The Mechanic
by b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b0r3d
Summary: My job is to kill and that's it. That's always been it. Cold-blooded with no strings attached. Tell me why is it that whenever ninjas get involved, things turn a hundred times more complicated? GaaraxOCxSasuke
1. Ran Hashimoto

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters**

**Review!**

**~[.1.]~**

A big, fat file was slapped on a rickety wooden desk. The desk creaked under the weight. Its contents were overstuffed with top-secret information about a dangerous man, who happened to appear as a normal civilian.

The room was dim, bringing a small amount of light against the squalor of the room. It was a tiny, cramped office. Various papers were strewn across every surface of the office. The clutter was unimaginable and large rats took to sleeping behind fallen furniture.

The quiet girl on the other side of the desk stared at the bulky file with a blank expression. Then she cracked a grin and snatched the file off the desk. "I'll get this done quick and clean, Usagi." The slender man behind the desk smiled as she slammed the door shut. "As always."

She swiftly left the ratty office and ran across the crowded streets at dusk. The civilians paid no heed to her. She landed gracefully in her impoverished home and plopped down on her broken couch. The papers soon found themselves thrown across the smudged coffee table as the expressionless female read through them.

_Kagame Fujika_

_Age: 38_

_D.O.B.: Jan. 28_

_Known Family: 1 wife 3 children. All under the age of 10._

_Cover: Innkeeper_

_Extra Notes:_

_Resides in Kumogakure_

_Enjoys pornographic images_

_Returns to close inn doors regularly at eleven o'clock sharp_

Beside the lines and lines of countless information, a profile picture was pasted on the file. Many other pictures of Kagame Fujika were printed out, illustrating him with his family and at his Inn.

"Kumo…only three hours away. Perfect." The girl's steel gray eyes sparkled with anticipation. In five minutes, she'd gathered her supplies and was on her way to Kumogakure. She wandered the town for awhile, purchasing needed supplies, until it became about five to eleven.

She checked her watch and raced towards the Inn. She'd caught Kagame Fujika at the door and convinced him to show her a room. He locked the door just before they climbed the stairs.

"You know, I really shouldn't be doing this," Kagame muttered, rubbing the back of his hairy neck as he led her into a spare room. His mustache tingled and his eyebrows twitched. Somehow, he felt that the girl was a bit suspicious, what with the overly late arrival and all. But he shook it off, reminding himself that he always got paranoid this late at night.

Once they had reached the room, he opened the doors and walked inside. She almost pulled a face of disgust, if not for her sharp experience. But she had reason to, anyways.

The room was grimy and full of mold. The objects in the room were just as filthy as the unnaturally brown walls and the sofa was just repulsive.

"It's not much, kid, but if you want it, I'll offer two-fifty for it," Kagame held out his hand for the money. She remained silent and slowly walked around, as if a lion ready to pounce. The somewhat generous man began to feel uneasy.

"Hey, kid?"

Those were Kagame Fujika's last words as his air supply was cut off from the girl's bandana. She'd reached in and grabbed it from her pocket and quickly wrapped it around his neck, choking him in one swift movement. Another minute passed and he lay limp in her arms.

The malicious girl slipped his clothes off, leaving the thirty-eight year old man in his underwear. She didn't feel the need to remove any more clothing from him. She would've barfed at the scene and then they'd know he wasn't alone.

She dropped him and took a thick rope from her bag out to hang it from a hook on the ceiling and tie in a noose. She dragged him towards the door and slipped his head through the noose, his legs dangling underneath him.

Her silvery lavender hair glistened under the cheap, yellow light bulb as she set up a chair underneath his feet. She thumbed through the pages of the porn magazines she pulled out of her bag and opened each of the three magazines to widespread pages of promiscuous females in compromising positions.

Then she hastily packed her stuff and jumped out the window, grinning to herself. When she arrived back at her place, a fat roll of cash tied by a white string was sitting on her coffee table. She laughed heartily.

"All in a good day's work."

**~[.1.]~**

"What's erotic asphyxiation?" A blonde-haired, blue eyed teenage boy asked a very exasperated Hokage.

"Naruto," she put a hand to her forehead. "You should go ask Sakura that. I don't feel like explaining something that awkward to you."

"C'mon, baa-chan!" Naruto whined, trying to keep up with the Senju as she walked at a faster pace in hopes of losing the boy. But sadly, she knew that Naruto Uzumaki was not shaken off easily and therefore, she must withstand his barrage of annoying questions and complaints. "Sakura-chan's all the way in the training grounds. I'm not walking that far!"

"Listen, brat," Tsunade stopped to face the inquiring boy, who stopped in his tracks to look up at her, "First of all, don't call me that in public. No, don't call me that in private, public, don't call me that _period__**. **_Second, it would be good to exercise your legs all the way to the training grounds after your four-week resting period."

"Hey, you gave it to me in the first place! And I was drained!" The teen said in his defense. But he was stopped when the ample-chested woman gave him a good, well-earned glare.

The sunkissed boy rolled his eyes. "Whatever baa-chaaan. You owe me for this."

"How 'bout you find her and ask her your stupid questions and I'll restrain myself from kicking you back into the Academy?"

"See you later, obaa-chan!" When the Fifth Hokage blinked, the Minato look-alike was already down the street with a trail of dust after him. She smirked to herself. "Thank Kami that got rid of him."

Meanwhile, Naruto arrived at the training grounds panting and catching his breath. Sakura and Team 10 were sitting under a tree, relaxing.

"Hey, what're you guys doing? I thought you were supposed to be training!" Naruto somewhat accused, pointing a finger at a monotonous-looking Shikamaru.

"Naruto, shut your mouth. I'm trying to get some shut-eye here…" The pine-apple headed male lay back down and re-crossed his arms behind his head. Beside him, Ino stared up at her fellow blonde with curiosity. "What are you doing here, Naruto?"

"I've gotta ask Sakura-chan a question!" He announced, blindly spinning his head around to look for the pink-haired girl.

"Naruto, I'm right here," Sakura deadpanned, sitting behind him.

"Oh there you are, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned. "I didn't see you there!"

"Nevermind that," Sakura sighed, slapping her forehead. "Now, what did you want to ask me?"

The blonde-haired boy stopped to think for a minute. "Uhhh…oh yeah!" He straightened his face and looked at her with a gigantic question mark above his head. "What's erotic asphyxiation?"

Sakura's eyes widened as her face instantly heated up. "W-Why are you asking me that?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a gross question," Choji commented, munching on his chips as he leaned on the tree. The four of them were training for about two hours straight, seeing as there was nothing else to do around the village.

The village had just begun settling down after the Pein invasion, and Konoha was almost rebuilt fully. The shinobi were training relentlessly to prove themselves for Konoha, if such a terrible situation arises once again and they were asked to fight for their beloved village.

And Naruto, transforming from the village idiot to the village hero, was entirely exhausted after his bout with Pein and was given a four-week resting period, in which he spent the time toiling about Konoha in boredom.

The four shinobi had just decided to take a quick break after the vigorous training session, when that orange-jumpsuit wearing boy runs in out of breath, asking perverted questions.

"I wanna know!" Naruto huffed, putting his hands at his hips. "Besides, didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?" Ino asked, having a near heart-attack at the possibility of the Uzumaki knowing something juicy when she didn't. She'd been meaning to catch up on the local gossip, but her flower shop was destroyed and once they finished rebuilding it, orders were quickly pouring in for the death of their loved ones.

"Are you serious? It's all over the Hokage Tower!" Naruto exclaimed, feeling excited that he actually knew something that she didn't. "Well, it's not really a big deal 'cause it wasn't a murder, but I just saw it on her bulletin board and I freaked out 'cause I saw a picture of a guy all dead!"

"You're a ninja, aren't you?" Shikamaru asked lethargically, his eyes remaining closed as he listened to the conversation. "You see dead bodies all the time."

"Yeah, but this guy was gross! He had porno all ov-,"

"I'm eating," Choji stated, proving his fact by shoving more BBQ flavored chips into his mouth. "Besides, I don't think I want to know the meaning of a word with the phrase "erotic" in it."

"Who cares? I've been wanting to find out for awhile now, but Tsunade baa-chan doesn't want tell me anything!" Naruto said, feeling more and more frustrated that somebody wouldn't just tell him what the damn word meant. "But she told me to go to Sakura-chan if I wanted to find out."

"Naruto, that's a medical condition," Sakura explained slowly, trying to word her sentences right. Of course, as a medic ninja, she specialized in medical conditions and causes of death. "Well, not really a medical condition, more of like…a hobby."

"Eh?"

The pinkette could tell by the expressions going around the tree that her friends were confused. She sighed and tried to explain the "hobby" more accurately.

"Well, you see…it's when you intentionally withhold air from entering your lungs for sexual pleasure…" Sakura said, feeling uncomfortable about explaining this. "Sometimes, you can die from it, seeing how you restrict the oxygen from entering your lungs, thus suffocating and/or strangling you."

It was silent in the training field.

Well, until Naruto broke out in realization. "OOOHHH! I get it! That's why in the picture, the guy was hanging himself, he was half-naked, and there were porno mags laid out in front of him!"

"Ew, Naruto, stop." The promiscuous Yamanaka held a disgusted expression on her face. "That's way too much information."

But when she looked around, Konoha's Number One Hyperactive Ninja was already racing back into the village, keeping a hand up in a good-bye salute and yelling, "Thanks Sakura-chan! I'll see you guys later!"

"Whew!" Ino let out a big breath. "That kid is just too much energy into one big blob of yellow and orange."

Shikamaru chuckled and smirked, his eyes still closed. "I can't believe that was the guy that beat Pein."

**~[.1.]~**

_Hajime Tayoka_

_Age: 27_

_D.O.B: Dec. 4_

_Known Family: 1 Wife 2 Kids. Both under the age of 6._

_Cover: Trinket Merchant_

_Extra Notes:_

_Frequent spender—Known to spend carelessly_

_Large amounts of money—unknown of the initial source_

_Resides in Sunagakure_

The silvery-lavender haired girl slapped the pile onto her coffee table as she leaned back to smoke a cigarette. Her glowing steel gray eyes lazily watched the swirling smoke rise up and disappear in the air.

Her eyes trailed down from the graceful smoke to the front of her cigarette. It was burning brightly, like coal and embers. She wondered vaguely what it would be like to be stuck in such a scorching heat…

She had been mulling over her last kill.

That Kagame Fujika was not just an innkeeper. Being an innkeeper was just his cover. In reality, Kagame was just like this gray-eyed girl. A hitman. A mercenary. A contractor. An assassinator. A killer. A mechanic.

One who kills for money.

Kagame had only been able to purchase the inn with his dirty money, his family under the pretense that he'd been able to land a successful job and earn them tons of cash. For awhile, they lived happy. Until Kagame's business bit him back in the ass when he'd been pronounced dead yesterday night from erotic asphyxiation.

The seventeen-year old girl smirked at her victory. She was the best at her job, after all. Everybody wanted to hire her, everybody wanted her to kill somebody. It was because she was just that good.

The name Kagame Fujika was filed into the back of her mind, along with countless other names that meant nothing to her. Names that she'd learned just for the sake of researching for the person behind the name and murdering them.

You see, Ran Hashimoto was a mechanic. A hitman, as more commonly called. She killed for the money and that was it. Business was business, as she always says.

It wasn't like she was poor, no far from it. Well, she wasn't poor now anyways. Back home, her family lived in frugal amounts, but that was another story.

More recently, she lived in a small apartment. It was very tiny, only housing a living room, a kitchen, and an even tinier bathroom. There was no bed. She slept on the couch.

You'd think that with all her killing money, she'd be living in a house that rivaled the Kage's and be rolling in cash. But no, Ran Hashimoto was a simple person.

She did not spend her killing money on her house, but more her materials. If you've ever entered her tiny abode (which is highly unlikely since she was practically nonexistent and nobody ever stepped foot into her apartment but her), at first you'd notice the close proximity of the apartment.

Yes, it was _that_ small.

But the next thing you'd notice was the extremely high-tech gadgets Ran had lying all over the place. From heat-sensor kunai knives to laser extension swords, you could guess what she spent her killing money on.

A big house wasn't what she needed, not in her terms anyways.

What she needed was advanced killing machines to help her be even more successful in her beloved business. And speaking of materials, she had plenty of them.

She was a metal-junkie.

Anything metal that is relatively dangerous and life-threatening, she'd take it.

She stocked up on instant-kill weapons and just regular weapons. She loved all her little weapons. They were the reason she got paid so well. And the more she got paid, the more weapons she could buy!

Don't get me wrong, she's not some cold-hearted demon like you see in most of these stories. She was a professional on the field. Oh sure, she's had her moments (freaking out in the middle of the job), but that doesn't mean she's any less of a person.

When it came time to kill somebody, she was strictly business and stony-faced. But when she was finished with that, she reverted back to her quiet, happy self. She was a subtly cheerful teenage girl; friendly and polite.

But when she was angry, she was the exact opposite.

When she was sad, she'd keep it to herself and cry in her head. But she never liked to cry on the outside. She liked to keep the majority of her emotions locked inside.

When she was bored, she'd spend her time sharpening and cleaning all her precious items. But she was rarely bored. There was always a job for her; always a person to kill.

Her job was far from personal. It was a job, just like any other.

Everybody had their own preferences and hers happened to be an assassin. She didn't mind much, though. Not a lot of people knew her so there weren't many to judge her.

The only people she actually kept in contact with was her family and Usagi, her employer. Other than that, she was living the lonely life. But she didn't care about that either. It seemed that Ran didn't care about the things that everybody else cared about.

She cared about what was truly important in her heart. And that was her family.

**Sorry, just thought I wanted to get this out :D**

**Kinda got the idea after watching The Mechanic :)**

**So this is about a chick who likes to kill so she gets money for it. She doesn't like **_**kill **_**them all out in the open, so she isn't some kind of rogue ninja. She makes it look like an accident, so nobody suspects her for it.**

**I'm probably not gonna update this for awhile, but I was bored, I made this a few months ago, and I thought, what the hell? No harm done, right?**

**Don't demand me for an update of this, 'cause I'm gonna be working on my other story, but I just wanted to get this out and see what people think :)**

**I'm out.**


	2. Hajime Toyoka

**I'm pretty glad that I got this out :D**

**I like this story a lot and I hope I don't lost interest in it later on. So keep reading, I don't know where this story is going, but I still like it!**

**WHOO.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters**

**~[.2.]~**

"Damn." Ran cursed as she accidentally cut herself with her own knife. She was shocked. She never cut herself. "Stupid." She shook her head and began bandaging herself quickly. She had gotten too distracted by staring at Suna's high walls.

"Halt." The guards stopped her as she approached the entrance. "Who are you and what is your business here?"

She showed them her fake IDs and documents and dragged her little cart of fruits behind her. She was under the guise of a market person, selling assorted fruits brought from various lands.

The silvery-haired girl was dressed in commoner's rags and had a large straw hat shading the hot sun from her eyes. As she dragged her cart to the marketers' place, she passed by several citizens, all of them not even sparing her a glance.

She smirked inwardly.

That was her whole objective.

"Excuse me, miss." Ran stopped her walk to turn her steely gray eyes towards a small child standing small under her, cradling a baby. She raised an eyebrow.

"Is that your kid, kid?" Ran asked, examining the two raggedy children.

"No, miss, this is my brother," the small girl said meekly. "We were wondering if you'd spare us an apple or two. It's awfully hot miss, and I gave all my water to the little one. We could use a little juice."

The mechanic motioned for them to follow her all the way to the marketplace. Once she set up her cart, she pulled out a box of apples, oranges, and plums. "Here you go, kids. This should last you about a month."

"Wow, thank you miss!" The small girl sparkled up at her with excitement. "This is a real prize."

Ran nodded at her, not even cracking a smile. "Now run along now."

The girl nodded and carried the box with one hand and the baby with the other.

The seventeen-year old female sat behind her cart, pondering the file that she had been sent.

It was obvious that she didn't have enough information this Hajime Tayoka. It had said on the file that he had an abundance of cash. But it had also said that there was no accurate source for it.

Stressed, she pulled out her cigarette pack and began smoking.

A supplier in the black market? A drug dealer? A pimp?

Ran sighed, lazily kicking her feet up on the fruit cart and taking another drag. It was a scorching heat in Suna, the sun just good enough to burn your skin. She was in the shady part of the marketplace, plus her hat kept her hair in check.

But if it wasn't the sun bothering you, the humidity sure got to you.

The air was so heavy around Sunagakure; Ran could barely breathe.

She was sweating like a pig and the heat was giving her a headache.

"Good god," she muttered under her breath. "How can anybody live in this type of climate?"

Nobody heard her. The marketplace was a noisy spot to be. Merchants would be yelling bargains at customers, who would be yelling back in order to talk above all the yelling. All in all, it just nursed Ran's headache even more.

As she thought more and more about what Hajime could be, she came to a conclusion. She would have to research him. She sighed. She hated having to do that. It took too much of her time and there was always the risk of getting caught.

Usually, the file folders Usagi would give her held all the information she needed.

If it didn't, then she'd have to do the research herself. It was tiring work and Ran was usually a lazy kind of person.

"—Hajime Tayoka? Really?" Ran's ears instantly perked up as she glanced at where the voice was coming from.

Beside her, two young ladies were gossiping at their vegetable cart. Ran tipped her hat and crossed her arms to give her the appearance that she was sleeping. Instead, she zoned in on their voices and listened in on their conversation.

"I swear, he is!"

"No kidding," the other woman clicked her tongue. "I knew that man was trouble."

Ran almost growled. Just get to the point!

"Well who knew he was selling drugs," the other lady whispered.

_Jackpot!_ Ran grinned to herself under the shade of her straw hat.

"That's right," the other woman said in a hushed whisper. "His poor family! They think he's just the best thing since sliced bread!"

"Well, isn't that a shame. He looked like such a good man too."

"Good man!" The other woman hissed. "Good man? That "man" spends money left and right. No matter how much money he has, he's always spending and spending."

"Do you know who else spends a lot?"

"I've heard that-,"

Ran tuned out after that. That was all the gossip she could handle for one day. But of course, she felt accomplished.

She didn't even have to lift a finger to find out all about this guy.

**~[.2.]~**

"Naruto!" A feminine voice called out for the blonde-headed teen. "Where are you going?"

The bright, blue-eyed boy turned around to face his pink-haired subordinate. "Oh, hi Sakura-chan! I was just on my way to Suna!" He motioned towards the backpack on his back as he stood outside the village gates.

"Why?" Sakura tilted her head in confusion.

At the one worded question, the Uzumaki visibly slumped and held a grumpy mood. "Because I'm so bored! Baa-chan never lets me have any fun and all of you guys are busy, so I decided I'd pay Gaara a visit!"

Sakura sweat-dropped. "And Tsunade-sama was okay with this?"

Naruto perked up and grinned at the Chuunin. "Yep! She was!" But his expression soon morphed into one of puzzlement. "Well…actually…" He scratched his head. "She kinda seemed happy about me asking to leave the village…almost like she _wanted _me to leave or something…"

"Are you going with anybody?" The Haruno female inquired.

From puzzlement, to anger/annoyance, Naruto barked, "HELL YEAH! Shikamaru was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago!"

"Hold your horses, Naruto," a lazy voice interrupted the duo's conversation as a pineapple headed boy walked up to the angered Uzumaki. "I'm here, so let's go."

"WHY YOU-,"

"Well, I'll see you guys later!" Sakura chuckled awkwardly, not wanting to be there when Naruto blew up at Shikamaru. "Bye!" She waved and retreated back to the village.

At her distanced form, Shikamaru shifted his eyes towards a pouty jinchuuriki. "Let's go, Naruto."

"Hmph!" Naruto huffed and began walking forward, leaving a sighing Chuunin behind him.

_This is gonna be a long trip._

**~[.2.]~**

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

"Done." The silver-headed girl counted to herself quietly as the man before her lay limp in her wake. Hajime Toyoka has just been terminated.

She quietly slipped out of the room, packing her supplies neatly and placing in them in her pocket. The yellow light flickered and just like that…

She was gone.

…

Let's play this back, shall we?

Ran had quickly made her way towards the two-story house that Hajime lived in. It wasn't hard to find out where her designated victims lived. No, that was the easy part.

All she had to do was track said victim and voila. The rest was history.

Anyways, she had made her way up towards the balcony, guessing that this was where Hajime was stationed. The curtains were open and so were the doors.

It was about sunset and Ran had cursed herself for not waiting until later to finish the job. Sunset meant that shadows were easier to be seen and if her victim caught sight of her shadow…well it was bye-bye for her.

One word was all they needed to launch an investigation on all the people that had entered Sunagakure that day and soon enough, the gray-eyed mechanic would be caught.

And her life would be over.

So she decided to wait awhile for dusk to approach.

In reality, she was somewhat eager to finish the job quickly. She had promised herself that right after this last one, she'd visit her family and lend them some well-needed money again. Her heart flipped with joy at the thought of going back to her hometown.

How she loved her family so.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a door slam echoed throughout the once empty room.

"Damn bitch…leave me alone…fuck..." Her sensitive ears perked up at the sound of potty-mouthed muttering and she leaned her head forward, but not too much, to see the man she had only seen through the file folders.

Hajime Toyoka.

It was about dusk now, and the shadows were long gone.

Ran rarely got nervous during one of her killings, and this wasn't one of those times. She mentally slapped herself for thinking ahead about all the fun things she'd get to do with her family. That wasn't what she was supposed to be thinking about right now.

She _always_ had to have her mind on the job. _Always_.

If you strayed your mind for one second, everything could be gone. And she knew that. So she watched.

Watched as he strapped himself down and started to sweat when he lifted a needle up. Watched as he smiled sickly before plunging it into the middle of his arm. Watched as the pleasure engulfed him completely and he was sent to a world of ecstasy.

She took that as her cue to slip the bandana from her pocket and creep towards him.

He noticed her and in a second, he thrashed about, trying to get away from his self-made restraints. He had known enough that there were people out there that could kill you. And mysterious girls creeping towards you with a bandana is definitely suspicious.

But she had already taken him by then.

The ruthless assassin swiftly wrapped the bandana against his throat, waited a few moments, and watched as he lay limp in his restraints.

**~[.2.]~**

Walking back to where she decided to stay for a few days, she smiled to herself when she spotted a fat roll of cash tied by a flimsy white string sitting on her bed.

The one-room motel she opted to sleep in for a few nights was really dingy. She almost scoffed at the sight of white substances in the carpet and the brown stains on the ceilings. It was even more disgusting than Usagi's place.

But she shrugged it off.

She was never one to be picky anyways.

Her steely gray eyes searched for her pack of cigarettes, finally spotting them on top of the cabinet beside her. She grabbed the cigarette pack, pulled out a cancer stick, and lit up.

She hated how she had to stay here for more than one night. She wanted to go back to her family _immediately_.

She hadn't seen them in four months.

But, unfortunately, the life of a mechanic did not allow that. Since she had been under the guise of a merchant and had already met with the gate guards, it would seem pretty suspicious if one night, a new traveler is here and somebody conveniently dies, and the next night, the traveler is gone…ne?

So, to keep up with her secrecy, she'd decided to stay for awhile, hoping to shake off any suspicions, even though she already knew there weren't gonna be any. She worked clean.

Her thoughts now wandered to Usagi, thinking about what would happen to him if she got caught. Would she sell him out?

She shook her head and laughed bitterly as the cigarette bounced in her mouth. She would never sell him out. Never.

The only thing she hated more than traitors were rats. Traitors and rats pretty much go in the same category, but each had their slight little differences.

Traitors were people that betrayed you. Took your trust and sent it flying out the window. Someone who left you to die alone in the middle of an alley. They were, in her mind, absolute **scum**. Traitors were not welcome to her, not one foot or even a hundred. They were not people. They were _traitors_. Not worthy of anything.

Then again, there were also the occasional rats. The snitches were the one thing she despised more than traitors.

Because, snitches are more selfish than traitors are. Snitches try to save their own asses in exchange for yours. Put your head on the chopping block so theirs is safe. She completely _loathed _rats. In her book, if anyone ratted her out, they'd be dead in 1.5 seconds.

One second to whip out her weapon, .4 seconds to hesitate, and the last remaining .1 second to send that person to the fiery depths of hell.

Rats are even more unwelcome than traitors are. She ground her teeth (causing the cigarette to crumple in her mouth) just thinking about rats. They made her so angry. If traitors were scum, then rats were even lower than scum. Just pieces of shit on the side of the road.

They didn't deserve to live.

Who cares if they rat you out to save their loved one or anything like that? Because they're only think of themselves. How _they're _going to lose somebody and how _they _couldn't handle it if that somebody died. And how _they'd _be so sad.

They never think, not once, about the person on the other side of the deal. How that person would be exchanged for the life of that loved one.

What if that person had a family too? What if that person had loved ones, had kids, had something important to protect?

But no.

Rats don't think about that. They only think about themselves.

And that's why Ran Hashimoto abhorred rats, snitches, anything of that sort.

If anybody ratted out on her, she'd never forgive them for as long as she lived.

**~[.2.]~**

"Come on Shikamaru! Hurry up!" Konoha's Number One Hyperactive Ninja was on the move, jumping through trees towards the direction of Suna.

"Ugh…it's so early in the morning, Naruto," the still-sleepy Chuunin complained, rubbing his head in frustration. "Why're we moving out so early?"

"Because I'm bored and I wanna get there faster!" Naruto grinned, jumping even further ahead of Shikamaru. "Besides, I bet Gaara has some cool new jutsus to show us. Maybe he'll even take us around Suna!"

"And just _why_ is that important?" Shikamaru Nara was **not **at all a morning person. He spent his weekends and weekdays sleeping in till noon, eating, watching the clouds, and falling asleep once again. He enjoyed that kind of lifestyle.

But now that he was a Chuunin, there was always something for him to do. And he could no longer do as he pleases as often.

His sedentary lifestyle had been reduced to high-risk missions, dangerous situations, and the occasional sprained ankle or two while in battle.

Why did he have to be a ninja again?

"Because I bet Suna has cuter girls than Konoha!" the last remaining Uzumaki huffed, glaring at the trees in front of him with mock grumpiness. "None of the girls in Konoha ever pay attention to me. It's either always Kiba or still Sasuke!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. _If only he knew about Hinata…_

"Well I thought you were still hung up over Sakura," the lethargic teen asked, running side by side with his friend.

Naruto scoffed. "As if! I'm not waiting for her forever! I'm gonna find me a lady that treats me right." The strikingly blonde teenager wiggled his eyebrows, causing Shikamaru to slap his forehead.

"You're such a loser…"

"Hey shut up! You're just jealous 'cause I got open space!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shikamaru drawled. Again, Naruto wiggled his eyebrows and a smug look came across his face. "Well, I'm single and I can go anywhere I want. Unlike you, who's being tied down by Temari-chan."

Shikamaru's face was tinged with a slight pink, but other than that, he scowled at the teasing Kyuubi container. "Don't be stupid, idiot."

"Oh don't deny it," Naruto chuckled perversely, "Don't think I didn't know why you wanted to come with me to Suna anyways~!"

Shikamaru's eye twitched and he smacked Naruto upside the head. "BAKA!"

**~[.2.]~**

Ho hum.

Ran sighed for the fifth time today (she'd been counting) as all the vendors and people walked past her and her fruit cart. It'd been a slow day, seeing as how she'd only gotten a customer or two, who only bought two fruits each.

She thought that she'd get some extra money from selling fruits (she'd picked them herself from the hidden bushes behind her ratty apartment complex), but it seems as if so far, she'd give out a whole box full of apples, plums, and oranges to a street kid for free, and sold about six fruits to two different people, who tried to bargain with her to lower the price.

She sighed.

What a slow day.

"Hello there, miss."

Ran looked up and saw a charmingly handsome brown-haired boy, about her age, maybe even a year or two older, standing in front of her in a raggedy, sleeveless brown shirt, torn blue shorts, and dusty sandals. His dark brown eyes twinkled with kindness as he was carrying a sack of potatoes behind him.

"Hi there." She smiled at the teenager, finding him to be attractive. She may have been a heartless killer, but she was no less of a teenage girl.

"Well, I was watchin' from afar and-,"

"Watching, huh?" Ran raised an eyebrow, smirking as his cheeks turned pink.

"N-No, I—um…"

"Just kidding," the silvery haired girl laughed as the boy looked even more embarrassed than before. "Now," she leaned forward, tilting her hat so he could see her face more, "What did you need?"

He smiled himself and opened up his potato sack. "I'd be willing to trade you four potatoes for two of those watermelons you got there." He pointed a calloused finger at the large, striped green ovals.

"What's a big boy like you need two watermelons for?" Ran asked teasingly. She rarely conversed with anybody outside of Usagi and her family, so she was quite pleased when a normal boy approached her for some normal conversation.

"It's not for me, miss," the boy nodded, a grin on his face. "You see, my little sister loves those things and I promised her I'd get her some later on today. But I don't have any money, and a lot of these merchants aren't willing to trade with me, so I was wondering…"

"No problem," Ran flashed her pearly whites at him and grabbed two of the watermelons for him. "I don't mind at all."

"Wow, you're really strong, miss," the boy marveled at her ability to carry both of those large, and heavy, watermelons in one arm.

Her eyes widened in realization as she feigned weakness. "Ah! Can you help me? They're really quite heavy." She didn't want anyone seeing what she really was.

She was supposed to be a middle-class girl selling fruits.

Not a freaky strong seventeen-year old two-watermelon-carrying-in-one-arm assassin.

"Sure thing miss," the boy grinned at her again, causing her to smile faintly at his boyish charm. He took both watermelons from her, carrying one in both arms, and handed her four potatoes from his sack. "As promised."

She smiled wider and placed them in an empty box on her cart. "Thanks."

He nodded and began to walk away.

She sighed. Honestly, she expected a little more than that.

But oh well. Can't get everything you want.

So she tilted her large hat forward again, to shade the blazing sun from her eyes and sat back down in her chair behind the cart. She sat there for a few moments, replaying the conversation they'd had and thinking of the better ways she could've said things.

Maybe she was too forward? Too slow?

That's when she heard footsteps stop in front of her cart. She tilted her hat and slapped a big smile on her face. "Welcome! Do you need anything?"

"I…umm…" She opened her large, gray eyes and almost laughed at the sight in front of her.

There was the brown-haired boy, rubbing the back of his neck and looking flustered while still carrying the potato sack behind him.

"Did you come back for more watermelons?" Ran chuckled, smiling at him brightly. He turned even more pink as the words tumbled out of his mouth.

"There's a festival out here later on tomorrow…and I'd like to see if you'd…you know…come with me…"

She burst out laughing at the boy's proposal. She couldn't help it. He was just too cute.

"Sure, sure," she grinned, leaning towards him to get a better look. "I'd love to."

He smiled. "G-Great…"

"You know…" Ran said, looking at him with a cheeky grin. "That little sister thing was really cheap. I was wondering when you'd come up with something better."

His dark brown eyes widened as he shook his head vehemently. "N-No! I really do have a little sister! And she really wanted a watermelon! The only thing I left out was that…I came to your cart specifically to…talk to you…"

She beamed up at him, her steely gray eyes turning into warm pools of gray. "Well that's sweet."

He nodded and began to run away. "I-I have to go now! But, I'll c-come back later!"

She waved at him. "Bye!"

A few hours after that, she sat back down and marveled over her current situation. It had all happened too fast.

One moment, he was asking for a watermelon and the next, he's taking her out to the festival tomorrow. It all reminded her of how normal life was back then.

When guys would ask girls out just like that and they'd have a fun time without a care in the world. They'd kiss and have all their first moments together.

She shook her head. "Forget about it." She told herself. "That's not you."

And now, she sat boredly behind her fruit cart, watching all the normal people pass by.

And she sighed, thinking about what she was doing tomorrow.

She didn't even know his name.

**~[.2.]~**

"Come on, Shikamaru! We're almost there!" The jinchuuriki grunted as he dragged the stationary Chuunin behind him.

"You said that three hours ago…" Shikamaru groaned, admiring how soft the ground was. Soft enough for a nap, actually.

Naruto grunted, dragging Shikamaru a few more feet away. "Let's go! The sooner we get there, the sooner you'll see a bed!"

At that, the dark-haired teen perked up and began jumping through the trees. "Hurry up, Naruto! You're lagging!"

Naruto grumbled and hastily jumped up the trees towards his lazy friend. "You owe me French Fries!"

"Whatever, just hurry up!"

"Since when do you start getting all jumpy?" Naruto muttered, glancing at Shikamaru. Aforementioned teen rolled his eyes. "Since you mentioned a bed. Now do you want those fries or not?"

Naruto's eyes brightened up visibly. "Yes, sir, Shikamaru sir!"

"Then hurry the hell up 'cause we got a long way to go."

**Thought I'd end it there. Sorry about the weird ending. I just thought I'd written enough XD**

**So I'll be updating this story pretty irregularly. Even more irregular than Konoha High: The Badass Style, anyways. I don't know, nothing's definite yet XD haha, so just enjoy this while you can 'cause I'm pretty bored.**

**This story's boring for now, but later on she's gonna get in trouuuuuble :O I'm just showing you how she's like and how she does things and stuff like that. And that random dude who asked her out? It could happen! :D You know it! He'll just be there as a support character :P So don't fret, my dears.**

**Please put reviews and tell me what you think of this story :D 'Cause I pretty much like it!**

**Okay, bye!**


	3. Sabaku no Gaara

**Hi! I haven't updated this story in awhile but I felt like doing it now. So instead of the chapter you're about to read, there was a previous file that I had in my flashdrive. It was the completed third chapter. But it just so happens that I lost that flashdrive -_- So…**

**Yeah this originally wasn't how it was supposed to go.**

**But oh well, just enjoy this chapter.**

**Who knows, it could be better than the one I first wrote ;D**

**Btw, her name is pronounced like (Ron) LOL SORRY IF THAT'S WEIRD. But don't get too comfortable with that name. Who knows if it's her real one…HEHEHE.**

**LMAO.**

**OKAY ENOUGH WITH MY CREEPINESS.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor will I ever own Naruto ****#cryinginthecorner**

**~[.3.]~**

"Did you hear? About Hajime Tayoka?"

"That easy spender of a trinket merchant?"

"Yes! He's passed away!"

"What? How?!"

"Well they found him in his room, tied up in a chair and-,"

"Was he murdered?"

"No, that's the thing! He tied _himself _up and it turns out that the rumor was true. He _is _a drug dealer! It was overdose, they say. They found traces of the drug in his body. How horrible."

"And he seemed like such a good man too…"

**~[.3.]~**

"That'll be 70 ryo please."

"Ugh…" a girl with steel grey eyes groaned as she pulled out the amount of cash needed and grudgingly handed it over to the clerk. "Here."

It was the blood money she'd received for Hajime's murder and she'd been planning to spend it on brand new swords to add to her ever-growing collection, but oh well. She couldn't show up to the festival as she was, right?

He smiled and thanked her, but you could tell he was the type that really hated his job. "Come back again!"

She scoffed, because she knew he didn't mean that. But she threw up a hand and waved 'good-bye' anyways.

She strolled out of the shop with a large bag in hand and an irritated look on her face. "Bad customer service…"

Ran had just bought herself a summer yukata for the festival she was to attend tonight. With Hiro-kun.

He had met up with her at her fruit cart and given her details for tonight's "date". Ran giggled when she thought of the word. When was the last time she'd gone on a date? Screw that, when was the last time she actually hung out with somebody her age?

It's been way too long.

And for some reason, she was glad that things were changing.

Even if the change was as miniscule as an ant.

It brought her back to the idea that life should be experienced in many ways. That hope was possible.

"Oof!" She'd bumped into somebody. And from the feel of it, a man.

_This is bad_ she thought, multiple scenarios already playing themselves in her head _I know the consequences of chance meetings. Everything could go downhill from this point on if I don't handle this properly._

"S-Sorry," the undercover assassin pulled her head further downwards so it would conceal her face as she brushed past the startled gentleman. "Sorry!" She repeated as she began to walk away briskly.

The hood was enough to cover her whole head, and her hair. She was basically wrapped up like a burrito. But even the slightest encounter could blow her cover.

"Hey! How dare you bump into our Kazekage!"

She faltered for a moment. _Kazekage? _The word interested her. And for a moment, she let go of her constant barriers and need to protect herself from suspicions. The curiosity got to her and she itched to catch sight of his appearance. Just what kind of person was the Kazekage?

And so she did the one of the most looked down upon actions that a mechanic could do.

She looked back.

And the one peak at his depthless cold jade eyes was enough to seal her future into the abyss.

**~{.3.}~**

"Oi Shikamaru! Did you know the Tanabata festival was today?" A particular blonde-headed ninja grinned as he received free food from the vendors. "Man, I haven't been to that since I was a kid! We should go, right?"

"Oh boy," the genius Chuunin of the Nara clan sighed as he watched his idiot friend prancing around the streets of Suna, shamelessly devouring all the samples that were offered to him. "Naruto, we didn't come here to play-,"

"Uh, yeah, we did," Naruto replied a matter-of-factly, holding up a boat of takoyaki. "I'm here because I got nothing else to do! And you're only here because Granny Tsunade needs someone to watch me. So I guess we're stuck with each other, blehhh." The bright blue-eyed boy stuck his tongue out at Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes at his friend's immaturity.

"Whatever you say, Naruto."

"Heh heh," Naruto grinned and threw up the peace sign, victorious. But a glint of red caught his eye. "Hm? Oh hey! It's Gaara!"

"Eh?" Shikamaru turned around, but it was too late. The little knucklehead had already slung his arm around the Kazekage's shoulder, yelling nonsense about how long it's been and how much taller he's gotten.

Of course the Kazekage's guards didn't appreciate Naruto's close proximity to the village's most prized shinobi and began to pull the loud jinchuuriki away, but Naruto hung tight around Gaara's shoulders, kicking up a storm.

"That idiot." Shikamaru sauntered over to where the ruckus originated and started to lazily scold Naruto. "Hey you big dummy, get off the Kazekage before his bodyguards beat you to a bloody pulp."

"As if!" Naruto shouted, a gigantic tick mark forming on the side of his head. "Gaara tell these pricks to get off me! Who are they anyways?!"

Gaara stared emotionlessly at his perky friend and opened his mouth to speak in that raspy voice of his, "Release him. He's my friend."

"Eh? Are you sure about that, Kazekage?" A man who seemed like a human form of Gamabunta pointed at a struggling Naruto. "This one could be planning to kill you, ya know."

"I doubt that," Gaara said, staring his guard down. "He is Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf Village. The ninja who reigned over Pein."

"Are you serious?!" The bodyguards immediately let go of his hold on Naruto and took three steps back. "Hey, I'm sorry man, I didn't know. Don't kill me!"

"Heh!" Naruto fixed his collar and brushed off his shoulders with a smug look on his face. "That's what I thought." Meanwhile, Shikamaru slapped his forehead at the kind of expression on Naruto's face. "Must be nice to be famous, huh…"

Naruto heard and slapped his lazy friend's back. "Don't worry, Shikamaru! You'll get there soon!"

"Yeah…I guess…"

"Yo Naruto," an older boy with purple kabuki paint on his face walked out from one of the stalls, chewing BBQ in his mouth. "What's up."

"Kankuro!" Naruto pointed at Gaara's brother and grinned. "How'd you know I was here?!"

"Well actually I was walking with Gaara but then I got hungry…and then I heard your annoyingly loud voice and was wondering what the heck you're doing here," Kankuro explained, a tick mark throbbing on his forehead.

Naruto gritted his teeth and snatched the BBQ from Kankuro's hand. "Hey! My voice is great! What the hell are you talkin' about?!"

"Naruto, shut up for like five minutes, come on," drawled Shikamaru, noticing the stares they were receiving from the vendors around them. "You're attracting too much attention."

Gaara ignored his friend's outbursts and stared after the girl who had bumped into him. It wasn't like he hadn't bumped into any other girls before, but it was that he hadn't met eyes with such a beautiful grey in his lifetime.

She turned back.

She _wanted_ to see him.

And it felt like that moment could last forever.

Hm. How odd.

In a blink of an eye, a rough hand was waving itself in front of Gaara's eyes and a loud voice was shouting things like, "Oy! Gaara! Wake up!"

The Kazekage growled and caught Naruto's hand, saying, "I'm awake, Naruto."

"Well you've been staring at that spot for like forever!" the Uzumaki whined, crossing his arms. "You seem so out of it!"

"That's not it," Kankuro put on a smirk as he slung an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Gaara spotted a hot chick hehe. They bumped into each other—love at first sight!"

Gaara elbowed his older brother in the stomach and spoke up, "That's not true. It was just a brush of the shoulder. Nothing serious."

"False!" Kankuro leaped out of Gaara's range of danger and stood behind Shikamaru, grinning for all he was worth. "You shoulda seen the way they looked at each other. How romantic~!"

"Shut up Kankuro."

"Gaara's getting more girls than I am," Naruto sobbed as he threw a mini-tantrum. "Why don't girls like me?!"

"The reason is blaringly obvious," Gaara replied emotionlessly.

The other guys laughed while Naruto further continued his childish fit. "NO IT'S NOT!"

It was safe to say that Gaara's thoughts drifted back to that mysterious woman who had bumped into him. There was something about her eyes that drew him to her. They were so _empty_.

And if her eyes weren't intriguing enough, as she hurried past him, a small sliver of shining silvery lavender hair made its way out of her hooded head, just long enough for him to reach out and grab.

But he didn't.

He just stared.

**~[.3.]~**

"Oh no, that was too close," Ran was already on the other side of the village by then, panting and sweating. "_Way _too close."

_That was dangerous. Why didn't I look elsewhere? Why was I so careless? This is exactly what Usagi warned me about. Too many chance encounters could spell disaster. I was already pushing it with Hiro-kun…good god, just WHY did it have to be the freaking __**Kazekage **__out of all people? And what was with those eyes? They were so beautiful…but full of something else…like he was looking for something but he didn't know just what yet. Crap, what did I get myself into?_

Ran had always been like this. She always felt like the smallest thing could ruin her disguise and ultimately end up with her being found out and the latter sniffing out her family and putting them on trial or something horrible of that sort.

As you could tell, she was _extremely _paranoid. Or "careful" was what she called it.

"Shit," she sighed, leaning by a wall to rest. She pulled down the hood on her head, thus causing a curtain of silky silvery lavender hair to cascade down to mid-stomach. She didn't feel the need to be in disguise anymore.

She was exhausted.

After her chance encounter with the Kazekage, she'd completely sprinted from the scene and to the other side of the village, far from whoever else she could possibly bump into.

She forced herself to reach a state of calmness and to breathe deeply. "Normal. Be normal."

And after that little event, she hurried home to her motel to get ready for the Tanabata festival.

She thought she should just forget about the little run-in. Yeah, that was a good idea.

Besides…it wasn't like they were going to meet again…right?

**~[.3.]~**

"Gaaaaaaara!"

"…"

"Naruto get out of his face."

The orange-clad boy pouted as he unlatched himself from the roof above the Kazekage and landed in front of the aforementioned redhead. He had taken to hanging upside down in front of Gaara, just to bother him, but obviously Gaara had more self-control than he realized.

Shikamaru stood by, watching over Naruto, as he always did, but this time with a certain fan-wielding kunoichi by his side.

"That kid never runs out of energy, does he?" Temari's mouth twitched in annoyance as she watched Naruto resort to babbling about his life in Konoha to a stationary Kazekage, all the while planning to kick his ass for being so annoying.

"That's Naruto for you," the lethargic Chuunin replied, scratching the back of his head. "By the way, that's a nice yukata you have on."

"Hm? Oh, this?" Temari looked down at the floral-print lavender yukata, an embarrassed expression gracing her features. "I just found it in the back of my room, I mean, um…yeah."

"It looks nice," Shikamaru offered a shy smile, causing the tough kunoichi's blush to deepen.

They were standing on a rather large balcony located at the center of Suna, overlooking the Tanabata festival taking place. The Kazekage was under a protective makeshift roof, shielding his face from the moonlight.

He was sitting in a chair with his siblings beside him, his bodyguards, and of course, Naruto, who was mucking about.

"—and so yesterday I was in the Hokage tower, y'know? Just walking around 'cause I honestly have nothing else to do and then I come across this article, you see. And it's got this half-naked man on it! Says he died of erotic asphyxiation. Wanna know what that is?" Naruto nudged Gaara with a smug look on his face, almost as if he were proud that he knew the meaning of the condition.

"No, Naruto, I don't wish to know what that is," Gaara said, already feeling a headache arriving. "Why don't you go downstairs and enjoy the festivities that the rest of this village is indulging themselves in?"

"Because I have to watch you!"

"…"

Everybody was silent.

"Was I…the only one who thought that sounded just a _little _bit creepy?" Kankuro pointed out, taking the chair that his brother was seated in and slowly sliding it a few inches away from Naruto.

"Yeah, that was a little weird," Shikamaru agreed, dragging Naruto away from Gaara. "You need to stop being such a weird kid."

"I didn't mean it like that, you sickos!" Naruto shouted, flailing about. "I meant that if I want to become Hokage, I'll have to learn soon what proper Hokage etiquette is! And since Gaara's already a Kage, I'm thinking that I'll have to learn from him soon!"

"Wow…" Shikamaru blinked, surprised. "That's surprisingly mature of you."

"SHUT UP!"

**~{.3.}~**

"Agh! Darnit!"

"It's okay Rika, let's just try again! Hahaha!"

Ran pouted when Hiro asked the man behind the booth for another paper net. They were in the goldfish scooping booth, currently failing miserably.

The name of the game was to have a bowl in one hand and a _poi _in the other. A _poi _was like a net only without the net. Instead, it was paper. And in front of you would be a tub of goldfish and you'd try to catch it with your _poi_.

As Ran has proficiently proved to us, this game isn't nearly as easy as it sounds.

"Damn! Again!" Ran cursed as she broke yet another _poi_.

Hiro sighed and sat beside her. "Move aside. I can do this."

"Oh really?"

"Congratulations! We've got a winner!" The man behind the booth rang some loud bells and Hiro grinned victoriously as he held up the bowl of goldfish. "He caught three!"

The man put them all in a plastic bag and handed it to Hiro, who in turn handed it to Ran. "You're welcome, Rika," he grinned childishly. Of course Ran had to give out a fake name, just to be safe. Even though she wasn't killing anyone tonight, she was always mentally on the job.

The silver-haired girl stuck her tongue out in defiance, but nonetheless took the bag and stared at the goldfish with wide-eyed wonder. "They're so cute."

"Mhmm…" Hiro smiled wide as he circled Ran playfully. "That's not the only thing that's cute around here."

Ran raised an eyebrow and sighed. "If only you were as charming as you think you are."

They stopped for a moment and shared a look before bursting out into pure, joyful laughter.

"Ahhh…" Hiro hummed out as he took Ran's hand in his. "You're funny."

"I know I am," the steely-eyed female flashed him a cheeky grin. "I'm the best, aren't I?"

"Sure, sure-,"

Their playful banter was cut off once spotted a young girl crying. She was about six years of age and dressed in a cutely patterned pink yukata. Her short brown hair only reached her shoulders.

"There now," Ran let go of Hiro's hand to pat the girl's head. "What's the problem, kid?"

"I can't get the stupid goldfish!" She whined, stomping her foot.

The two teenagers sweat-dropped before Ran came to a conclusion. "Well here," she said, holding the bag of goldfish that Hiro had won for her in front of the girl, "If you promise to be a good little girl, maybe you'd like mine?"

"Really?!" The small girl dug into her pocket with a look of concentration and pulled out a couple of coins. "It's not much, but…I hope it's good enough!"

Ran laughed and pushed back the girl's outstretched palm, delighted at the girl's politeness. "No need. Just pay it forward, okay?"

The girl didn't really understand what she meant, but figured that if she would get free goldfish over it, then she would listen to whatever the lady said.

"Pay it forward?" Hiro questioned as the little girl nodded and ran away happily. Ran straightened out her baby blue floral yukata and looked at her date from the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, you've never heard of it?"

Hiro shook his head.

They started to walk again, relishing in the feel of the outdoor summer festival. The weather had been merciful to the village and had ceased its constant blinding sandstorms just for tonight.

Countless stalls and booths offered delicious food and fun games, with promising prizes. The smell of fresh yakitori was drifting in the night air as the sky was painted with the colors of the fiery sunset that eventually faded into soft purples and dark blues.

It was about twilight now and paper lanterns were elegantly strewn on every booth, emitting a heavenly glow and creating an upbeat and mirthful ambiance. The air was cool, since nightfall was soon. There was an abundant amount of people, ages ranging from babies to senior citizens.

There were small children in their yukatas, running through the festival grounds with sparklers and yakitori in their hands. Adults had smaller children in one arm and a baby in the other. Older individuals chose to sit around and watch as their grandchildren participated in what they had many years ago. Younger adults and teenagers walked hand in hand, paired off into couples.

They all shared one thing in common; all of them seemed to be in high spirits.

Ran breathed in deeply. "What a beautiful village…" she turned to smile at Hiro before continuing her explanation. "To pay it forward…that which means to perform a good deed and instead of having it repaid, it must be done for others."

"I don't understand," the brown-haired male stated honestly.

"For example," Ran said, stopping at a food booth to buy dango. "I gave that girl goldfish for her to take home. That's my good deed to her."

She took a bite out of her dango as they continued walking. Hiro began to stare at Ran with newfound interest. "Now instead of me wanting her to repay me, I want her to take my good deed and find the kindness within herself to pass it on to others." She offered the remaining few pieces to Hiro, who slowly took it from her hand.

"What it does, Hiro-kun, is start a chain of compassion and good-will." Ran turned to Hiro with a bright smile on her face. "And maybe one day, the world will learn to be truly kind to each other."

"I got the idea from my grandmother," the silvery-haired female mused as she walked side-by-side with Hiro. They were now milling about the fairgrounds, nothing much on their minds. They were young, and they were free. "She'd always help other people, no matter what the circumstances. I asked her why she'd do that without any sort of repayment, but she just smiled and told me that good people do good things without the burden of debt."

"…What a nice woman," Hiro grinned, inconspicuously snaking an arm around her shoulder. "And she just happened to raise a very nice young lady."

Ran raised an eyebrow, but allowed his arm to be kept intact. She liked the closeness between them. "Why thank you, kind sir."

"You're welcome."

And so the two continued on with their evening of budding romance and friendship, laughing and making jokes and teasing each other. The night was young and the lights were bright; the atmosphere was completely festive.

And it seemed like things couldn't go any better.

"Hold on right here, let me go buy something," Hiro waved as he entered some shop off to the side, leaving Ran to stand quietly by herself in the corner.

She was quite curious as to why he failed to bring her with him into the shop, but she figured that he must've been buying something for her and that he didn't want his present to be spoiled. Ran smiled to herself, thinking about how nice it was to have other people care for you.

**~[.3.]~**

"If I jump off this balcony, would that be considered suicide?" Gaara mumbled, his cheek in his palm as he continued to not listen to Naruto's useless ramblings. "Or would it be counted as relieving myself of cruel and unusual torture?"

"Even if you tried it, your guards would catch you in a heartbeat," Shikamaru answered, feeling the need to jump off the balcony himself as he felt Naruto's overwhelmingly loud voice pound itself into his head. "But if I did it, no one would care. Hmm…maybe I should try…"

"Hold it buddy," Temari glared at the Konoha Chuunin, "If anybody's gonna jump off this balcony because of that orange nuisance, it'll be me first!"

"I'm already halfway there," Kankuro whined, literally half of his body hanging from said balcony. "I can't take this anymore! It's like his voice has a built-in speaker."

"Tell me about it," the guards beside the door grumbled.

"Gaara! You're not listening to me!" The Uzumaki accused.

A collective sigh was drawn out from the other ninja. The pure exhaustion they felt from just hearing Naruto talk was indescribable. It's like he always had something to say, even if it was something trivial.

The Kazekage's eyes swept over the village slowly, attempting to watch anything else but the jinchuuriki in front of him. He spotted happy families and busy merchants. The normal.

He closed his eyes for a minute, bringing himself deep into his subconscious. He needed to think.

His mind wandered to various topics such as Konoha's destruction and the strange feeling he had been getting recently. It was crystal clear that a storm was brewing, but his question was when. And why exactly?

He felt that the time for fighting was near, and that something was coming, whether it was good or bad. And all of these unsorted feelings were driving him crazy. He hated not knowing what was going to come at him. He needed to know if he could handle it.

Because if something destroyed Konoha, who's to say that it won't come after the other villages as well? His village?

Sunagakure is under a threat and it was his job to protect it.

To say he was paranoid was an understatement.

And on top of all these thoughts, were the village elders, urging him to socialize with the people and dumping pounds of paperwork on his head. Day after day, he signed each paper with his signature, not much meaning coming out from his work.

Socializing with the people proved to be difficult, seeing as how every time he took a step out into the streets, a hoard of females would chase him in circles and leave him panting for his breath. Not only that, but he found people to be awkward, not really sure of what to discuss with them.

Kankuro had also been on his back recently, bothering him about getting a girlfriend since he thought that Gaara had gone long enough without a girl and that he was just one big pot of loneliness. And to that, Gaara kept to himself and ignored his elder brother's attempts at creating his love life.

And to top it all off, Naruto had arrived and had taken to talking to him, every moment of the day, about nothing in particular.

It was complete madness.

The only person who didn't frustrate him to no end was Temari. And that was probably because she was too busy to do anything about it.

Gaara let out a long exhausted sigh. He was literally a big ball of tension, stock full of stress and unwanted thoughts. He was in dire need of a vacation.

Deciding to open his eyes to face reality, they immediately spotted something that seemed vaguely familiar.

"…?" The Fifth Kazekage was squinting now, seeing as the figure had been standing from quite a distance and to be frank, everyone looked like ants from where he was sitting.

And then he saw her.

Her long silvery lavender hair was swooped up into an elegant bun, silky waving pieces escaping and framing her round face. Her side-swept bangs draped right above her stone-cold grey eyes. Her pink lips were pursed in anticipation, almost as if she were waiting for something…or somebody.

She wore a baby blue floral yukata, with a navy blue obi and traditional wooden sandals.

Gaara stared at her, because she looked so…plain.

All of the other girls around her were wearing makeup and accessories and other such things that enhanced their beauty. In other words, they made it complicated. She, the girl standing next to a store by herself, wore nothing "complicating" on her face nor her body. She was just wearing herself and herself only.

She wasn't any special beauty, but something simple. And her simplicity made her beautiful in a way.

There was something about her that seemed like she needed help. Not from her current situation, but from the look in her eyes. There was an unspeakable emotion from her iron-colored orbs, an emotion so strong that it pulled the Kazekage towards it.

He was caught.

"I'll be…right back…" Gaara stood up from his chair in a daze, momentarily ceasing an ongoing argument about puppets between Kankuro and Naruto.

"I told you, they're creepy as hell—huh?" The whiskered blonde quickly focused his attention onto Gaara, who'd suddenly stood up and began to walk out the door. "Gaara, where're you going?"

"I'm going to…socialize with the people," he replied cooly, taking off his Kazekage hat and wrapping a cloth around his head to hide his hair. "It's what the elders wanted me to do…"

Kankuro scoffed. "Since when did you do what the elders told you to?"

"Since now," Gaara said, attempting to move through his guards. "Now move."

"A-Are you sure, Kazekage-sama?" One of the guards asked, unsure if letting the village's most prized shinobi to go roam around alone was a good idea. "I mean, I think you should at least take one of us with you."

"He's right, Gaara," Temari stepped forward, the concern evident on her face. "After all that's happened with Konoha, our top priority is to ensure your safety. That's why we got bodyguards for you anyways. As your older sister, I refuse to let you leave without taking one of us to accompany you."

Gaara uncharacteristically rolled his eyes. That was the most infuriating part of being the Kazekage. Nobody let you go out anywhere without having someone tail you.

Although, he was quite happy that Temari expressed her concern over him. It showed she cared.

If this were the situation a couple years ago, she would've cowered in fear at the mere sight of his eyes.

"…Fine," Gaara relented, shifting his jade orbs to a certain blonde-haired knucklehead. He was bouncing in place, almost resembling an excited puppy dog waiting for his walk. "I choose Naruto."

"Are you serious?!" Kankuro whined, throwing a fit. "Out of all people, you choose the idiot?"

"I wouldn't be talking, buddy," Shikamaru whistled inconspicuously, unable to restrain himself from saying such a thing. Of course, the deadly puppet master threw him a quick glare, but nonetheless let it go. "Whatever, just watch over my brother, got it, Naruto?"

"Leave it to me!" Naruto grinned, flashing everybody a thumbs-up while dragging Gaara away. "C'mon Gaara! Let's go enjoy this festival!"

"Hey, you idiot!" Temari shouted after the overexcited jinchuuriki. "Didn't you just hear him? Be careful!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto blew a raspberry at her as he ran further away, resulting in her almost jumping off the balcony to chase after the Uzumaki and strangle him herself.

She was held back by Shikamaru, who muttered a low, "Troublesome woman."

**~[.3.]~**

"Shit!" A certain blue-eyed Konoha ninja slapped his forehead in humiliation. "I can't believe I lost him! Holy crap, Temari-chan's gonna kill me!"

Naruto had been leading Gaara through the fairgrounds, not that the Kazekage of his own village needed leading, but anyways, Naruto blabbered on and on about his usual diminutive topics and when he couldn't hear his friend's voice, he turned around to find him completely gone!

What was worse that it took him less than five minutes to lose somebody so important.

He leaned against a noisy food stall, his hand catching a wooden pole and preventing him from collapsing. He was hyperventilating, his pupils shrinking and his mind going in circles. "Oh god, I'm gonna die. I can just feel it!"

He was frantic and breathless, his inner soul practically collapsing into miniscule little pieces at the thought of what the combined efforts of Temari, Kankuro, _and _the whole village of Suna would do to him once they found out he had lost their precious Kazekage. They would probably beat him half to death, burn his fingers off, and then call in the Hokage to deliver the final blow for being such an incompetent shinobi to the Leaf Village.

Oh Kami, he was going to _die._

A feral growl resounded from within him, thus reminding him that his nine-tailed counterpart had something to say.

**Calm down you idiot. Just look for him and nobody has to know.**

Naruto frowned but then perked up visibly. "I guess that's right! I just have to look for him! Now…where could he be?"

Meanwhile, in another food stall not too far from where Naruto stood, a hooded redhead held back a small chuckle at his friend's display of uncontrollable emotions. He may have been annoying, but that didn't make Naruto any less entertaining in Gaara's book.

Shaking his head, the Kazekage took off in the direction of where he thought that girl might've been. He didn't know quite exactly what he would say to her when he got there, but he knew for sure that he had to speak with her.

This type of thing had never happened to him before.

Amidst the chaos that was swirling around the ninja world, her presence offered him peace. A magnetic pull emanated from her to him, as if he _needed _to be with her. As if he needed to help her.

And Gaara was never one to turn his back on those who needed help.

"Ah," a small sound of surprise escaped the Kazekage's lips as he spotted _her_, standing innocently by herself, in all of her simple glory.

The corners of her lips were tugged upwards, ever so slightly, signifying a very tiny smile, but a smile nonetheless. Her steely grey eyes were lit up in excitement and happiness, almost bright with enthusiasm. They were trained on the village festivities, more specifically the crowd of children running back and forth, the lanterns providing the glow of light spilling across their faces. She stood incredibly still, a feat that Gaara had been surprised at, considering most girls her age were usually prancing around in their never-ending movements.

She seemed happy.

Ran began to feel a thoughtful stare at the side of her face, a question mark immediately forming in her mind as she tore her gaze away from the playful children. She tilted her head to the side, glancing at the hooded man that stood but a few feet from her. "Um," she cleared her throat, successfully grabbing his attention, "Is there something you need?"

The man seemed startled, almost as if he had been caught off guard, as he clumsily took a step forward and coughed. "Ah um, yes, I'm sorry for staring. If it made you uncomfortable, I apologize." Under the hood, Gaara held an embarrassed expression on his face, reprimanding himself from coming across as creepy.

"It's not a problem," Ran laughed, a friendly aura emanating from her. For some reason, she didn't feel the need to run away from the man, or scream "RAPE!". As a mechanic, it was her job to be able to read people the second she set eyes on them. And this man, from what she could see, bore no ill will. She wasn't quite sure of his intentions, but she knew that he wasn't dangerous at all. "…Are you enjoying yourself?"

Gaara immediately relaxed and let out a relieved sigh. He had thought that a hooded man with a raspy voice would scare any other girl away, but she seemed to be inviting his presence, almost like they could engage in conversation. "Yes, I am. And you?"

The silvery-haired female nodded, eyes wide. "Yes, very much so. It is my first time attending this festival, and I never knew it would be so…festive." Gaara let out a chuckle at her choice of words. "But yes, the food is very delicious and the atmosphere is light. I never knew Suna to be so…lively."

"Ah, I take it is your first time here?" The hooded man questioned.

_Shit, _Ran cursed to herself inwardly, not letting her smile falter, _I messed up. I shouldn't have said that…No matter, just play it off… _"Oh yes, haha, I'm visiting my brother…he should be around here somewhere."

"I see," he nodded, somehow feeling comfortable around her. She gave out an aura of friendliness, something that he liked. "Your yukata is very nice."

"Thanks," she smiled in appreciation and brushed off her shoulder. "I bought it today, specifically for this festival. I like your…hood."

His attire consisted of black pants that cinched at the ankle, black ninja sandals, a ruby red sash tied at his waist and with what looked like a top half of a maroon kimono on his upper body. A black hood shrouded his facial features, but Ran could tell by his hands that he was a young guy, most likely a man whose age has yet to reach twenty.

"Sorry…" Gaara apologized, trying to conjure up some sort of normal reason for wearing a hood in the middle of the night. "I don't feel very comfortable with my face…"

"You shouldn't be," Ran replied airily, bring her eyes up to stare at the starry night sky. It was a sheath of black and if not for the small twinkling dots of light, the village would've been shrouded in darkness. (Not including the glowing lanterns, but that was beside the point.) "Everything is beautiful, no matter how ugly they are perceived to be. Beauty is just a state of mind. A concept. If you find it to be beautiful, than it is. Ugly is just a word used by people who fail to see the true beauty in life."

"…" To be honest, Gaara was shocked to silence. In all his life, he'd never heard such words, such splendid and stunning words. In the life of a shinobi, there was much pain and suffering and ugliness. To hear such an amazing opinion come from an unknown villager, it really surprised him. _This_ is what the council had been trying to achieve by having Gaara socialize with the people.

It not only built support in his favor and unity within the village, but it also opened his mind to the needs and thoughts of the people. By talking with the villagers, he would be able to experience their lives and hopefully make it better.

And it could all start, with this one girl.

The way she thought was absolutely beautiful and the fact that he'd been able to converse with such a person, well, he felt extremely lucky.

"Gaara! GAAARAAAA!"

And of course, there was only person in the entire world that could ruin angelic moments like these.

"Hey Gaara! Is that you?!" The Fifth Kazekage panicked when he spotted his blonde companion a little ways off, almost drowning in the sea of people. He turned back to the beautiful female with a small sense of panic, "I-I, I have to go…um, thank you."

Although Ran didn't know quite what the young man was thankful for, she nodded and gave out a confused, "You're welcome?"

But she wasn't sure if he had heard or not, because in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared within the ever-growing crowd of villagers, not a trace to be seen. Maybe he was a ninja.

She had thought him to be a little strange, but sort of endearing in a way.

She told him about her opinion on beauty and she was very happy that she could share something so intimate with a stranger. It made her feel normal.

"Hey, sorry it took so long." A boyish voice sounded beside her and she looked up to see the smiling face of Hiro. He glanced at her and noticed that something was off. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"…No," Ran shook her head, a small smile appearing on her lips. "I just met somebody very interesting."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

**~[.3.]~**

"The Tanabata Festival, most people don't know the story behind it…but I'll tell you anyways. A princess named Orihime weaved cloth every day for her father by the banks of a river called Amanogawa…Her father loved it so much that he would be willing to give her anything she wanted. So he introduced her to Hikoboshi, a cowherder. They fell in love instantly and married each other."

"How sweet…"

"But no, the story doesn't stop there. After they married, they were so preoccupied with each other that Orihime no longer weaved cloth by the riverbank and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to roam all over the land. So Orihime's father was angered and forced them to be separated across the Amanogawa. Orihime was devastated. Thus, after seeing his daughter's tears, her father allowed them to meet once, every year, on the seventh day of the seventh month."

"So it's a happy ending?"

"Maybe, if you think so. But it is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the two lovers are not able to meet and must wait another year to see each other."

On two sides of the village, the Tanabata story was being told to various people. On one side, Kankuro informed the Kazekage, his bodyguards, Temari and the Leaf ninja about the tragic love story, grinning as he received responses from Temari, who occasionally butt in to ask questions.

On the other side, two teenagers sat on a roof, retelling the tale under the light of the moon. With the sky clear, the moon could shine its majestic white light amongst the citizens of Suna and cast shadows amongst the areas not lit.

Hiro, a lowly fruit merchant, told the story with zeal, pointing out the stars that were to represent Orihime and Hikoboshi.

Ran, an undercover assassin, stared at the stars in wonder, listening to the story with open ears. She'd always been interested in children's stories and whatnot, so you could imagine her enjoyment as Hiro told her the story behind Tanabata.

"Wow, how interesting," she breathed, overwhelmed at the expansive night sky. "I just thought festivals were thrown for the sake of partying."

"Some are," Hiro shrugged, making a move to stand up from his sitting position. "But some have more special meanings, like this one."

Ran smiled at him. "I'm glad that like Princess Orihime and Hikoboshi, we got to meet on this one day. I had a really nice time."

Usually, this was the part where the boy would smile and kiss her, or at least agree with her. But Hiro looked hesitant, almost as if he was in pain. Nonetheless, pulled off a very forced smile, somewhat uncertain. He seemed to be contemplating something in his mind, Ran could tell.

But what she didn't know was what exactly was he thinking about?

"Yeah…back at ya…"

And that's when Ran felt the need to facepalm. Really? _"Back at ya"_? After a night full of charm and chivalry, he killed it with that one phrase. She sighed. Oh well. Not all boys could be perfect.

"Hey could you do me a favor?" His voice was tight, a reluctant expression on his face. He was sweating, and it surely wasn't from the Suna heat because it was cool and chilly outside.

"Um…sure?" Ran didn't really mind his strangeness, because maybe all teenage boys were this nervous on a date. _But he wasn't this nervous before_, Ran thought suspiciously. _No! Don't do this to yourself! Not now!_

She forced her mutinous thoughts away and focused on what Hiro needed her to do. This was just a normal evening out with a normal guy and a normal girl. How dare she think of her job as a mechanic at this time? Nothing from that cold and heartless world could reach this new and light one. She wouldn't let anything spoil these moments.

"Could you turn around and your close your eyes? I have a surprise for you."

She complied, a small smile playing on your lips. "I don't know what this is, Hiro-kun, but it better be good." And then after that, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Usually, her internal assassin radar would go off and alert her that something fishy was going on, and she'd turn around and proceed with which action that fit the situation best. Whether it be murder or to run away, she would always know because that's the skill that came with being a mechanic. You had this feeling, that when you were in danger, the little feeling would go off and you would know. But strangely enough, it didn't inform her this time.

Instead, it was her acute sense of hearing that saved her neck. With her eyes closed and anticipation slowly building up in her chest, she'd just _barely_ been able to hear the click and clean slide of a switchblade being used.

And in an instant, she'd opened her eyes, reacting automatically to the idea of threat beside her. Swiping her leg in a one-hundred eighty degrees angle, Hiro was caught in her deadly swing and was forced to tumble to the floor clumsily. Without hesitation, the silvery lavender-haired female raised her right leg and brought it down with crushing speed at his left knee, successfully mashing the bone into bits and pieces.

Before her beloved companion could yell out in the excruciating pain he was no doubt feeling at the moment, she clamped her palm over his mouth, stopping him in mid-scream. Glaring straight into his once charming brown eyes, she spoke with the utmost fury. "**Who sent you?**" Her tone was low and threatening, calm but full of so much authority.

She knew how to handle these types of things.

"Gaaghh!" He gagged as she grabbed him by the throat and shoved him up against the generator on the roof. Loosening her grip, she glared at him with such ferocity that he wished that she'd just killed him on the spot. She didn't want to have her hands around his neck so tight that they'd actually make a mark.

She was still planning to kill him, and every movement of hers was vital. One mistake and this could quickly turn into an obvious murder.

"I-It was Kuma…" he choked out, blood running down from the corner of his mouth.

She slammed him into the generator again, gritting her teeth. "_Why_?"

"I'm s-sorry!" His words surprised Ran so much that she'd accidentally let him go. But she knew that he wouldn't do anything deadly towards her. With a completely crushed left leg and her in sight, he was as a good as dead. And she knew that he knew it too.

"I-I…really did ask you to the festival at first…" he wheezed, rubbing the spot on his neck where her fingers were once laced. The same fingers that were also laced with his earlier that night. "But then a-afterwards…this man approached me…s-said he'd give me an obscene amount of money…f-for you to be dead…"

"Tch, figures," she snorted out, getting her yellow bandana ready. She'd always used that piece of cloth in all her killings, no matter what the situation. It was like her unseen signature. "Kuma's a coward. Of course he'd hide in the shadows to save his own sorry ass…it's a pity," she gave him a somewhat hard stare, but he could see from her eyes that she was really sorry for him, "he even got a kid like you to be involved."

"…" Hiro stared at the ground shamefully, the pain in his left leg unable to surpass the pain that was now swelling in his heart. "I didn't really want to do this. But I have two younger siblings and I don't know what I'd do…they were already on the streets begging for food…I-I just don't know…"

"It's okay," Ran approached him with a calm voice, wrapping the bandana around his eyes. "I'll take care of you now. I'm sorry it had to be this way, Hiro."

The brown-haired merchant boy who once seemed so innocent gulped, knowing that his end was so near that he could taste it on the tip of his tongue. "…My name's really Aki."

Ran nodded, twisting his head with a quick movement of the hand, thus snapping his neck and producing a sickening crack. "Goodbye, Aki."

Slipping the bandana from his head and closing his eyes, she stared at him for a moment, unable to process what had just happened. "Geez…" Realizing she could stare no longer, she sighed and threw him over her shoulder, preparing yet another "accidental death".

"My life really can't be normal, huh…"

**~[.3.]~**

"Huh? A fallen boy?"

"Where?"

"Oh how gruesome!"

News of a young man's death had spread over Suna like wildfire as the Tanabata Festival came to a close. His body had been found in an alley by a man who happened to be passing by and it was assumed that he fell.

His neck was twisted, meaning an instant death, and since he had fallen on his side, it was only natural for his left leg to be broken. It seemed like an accident.

Soon the Kazekage had been ordered to report to the scene, since its grotesque nature had been causing a disturbance. He took one look at the boy and then looked up, seeing a set of fireworks propped up on the roof.

"It seems that he had been trying to launch fireworks from the roof," Gaara said, his eyes searching for any other pieces of incriminating evidence. There were none. "Most likely, he tripped and fell to this death."

"We'll get this cleaned up immediately." Temari nodded to the guards beside Gaara and said, "Get a crew down here immediately! Carry him out on a stretcher and prepare his burial. Get rid of the crowd."

The bodyguards nodded and saluted the dirty blonde. "Hai!"

Meanwhile, as things were clearing up in the alleyway, Ran was briskly walking away from the scene as they spoke. Her mind was swirling and forbidden thoughts were poisoning her previously unstable mentality (will be explained in further detail somewhere throughout the story).

_This was all my fault. I shouldn't have gone with him to this stupid festival. I shouldn't have trusted him so easily. Things could've been so different! _She stopped walking to get a hold of herself, knowing that if she didn't do so now, she would pay for it later. _Snap out of it. You heard his story, he was supposed to kill you anyways, regardless of what situation it was in. No one is to blame but that bastard Kuma._

Kuma was the rival of Ran's boss, Usagi. Both led an international underground association of criminals, assassins, and thieves whose main purpose was to accumulate money. The only difference between these two? Usagi's was better.

Previously, Kuma had been the ultimate (and only) criminal powerhouse and had acquired millionaire status, his empire growing and growing by the minute. But after one of the assassins had a bad job, he broke away and started a new international underground association of criminals, assassins, and thieves. That was Usagi.

And Usagi's empire was dubbed the "Yūrei", meaning ghosts. And that was because all of his workers were as good as dead once they joined the organization and basically ceased to exist. Anyways, the Yūrei had a hard beginning, seeing as how it competed with Kuma's "Yajuu", or monster.

Nevertheless, people from Yajuu broke away to join Yūrei, which offered better living standards and more tolerable treatment. Yūrei grew to be a powerful association and soon beat out Yajuu, who now the less popular of the two.

Either way, both of these organizations were the strongest and the almighty, beating out any other organization out there. It was easy to say that those two were the only ones in the competition.

The most recent win?

Yūrei acquiring the favor of the Akatsuki, another underground criminal organization. With Akatsuki's favor, Yūrei would soon eliminate Yajuu's existence.

She snorted when she realized what Hiro/Aki had her wait outside the store for. He was buying that switchblade. She was so stupid, to just stand there as he went and bought the weapon that was meant to send her to the fiery depths of hell. She remembered the name of the store, _Suna Weaponry_, but that wouldn't do her any good now.

She was such an idiot for not noticing earlier.

"Let's goooo!" A high-pitched voice directed Ran's attention to a raggedy girl, carrying a baby on her back. "C'mon, Nichi! Everyone's heading towards the same direction, there must be something exciting over there! Plus, we have to find nii-san. He's been out for awhile now."

Ran almost felt bad for the kids, a frown playing across her face. There was nothing exciting about a dead boy in the middle of an alleyway. She stared at the pair of children for a long moment, frowning even more when realization hit her.

They were the kids that had asked her for food the other day. The ones she ended up giving a whole box of fruit to.

Shaking her head in a resigned matter, she continued to walk forward, trying to forget the image of Hir—_Aki's _body sprawled across the ground in an inhuman position. She'd arranged it in a way to make sure that the Suna officials knew it was an accident.

As she quickly began to walk away, she roughly brushed past a stranger's shoulder.

_Geez, what's with me and bumping into people nowadays…_ She thought in annoyance.

"Sorry," she turned to apologize to a young man about her age, with dark hair tied in a spiky ponytail and deep dark eyes. Looking at his headband, Ran cursed. _A Konoha ninja…I gotta get outta here…_ He stared at her curiously, their eyes meeting for a quick second. "Yeah, me too."

Ran nodded in goodbye, walking away with her thoughts in turmoil. She'd have to stay in Suna another day, to avoid suspicion, but she decided to just stay inside her motel room. She couldn't handle any more run-ins with people.

First, some other undercover assassin that she had a date with, then the Kazekage, and now a Konoha ninja.

Fate was really trying to bitch her out this time.

"Oof!" She collapsed on her bed, removing her shoes at the door and untying the elegant bun in her hair. Silvery lavender locks of hair enveloped the bed with their silky lengths, a certain shine in them.

After resting for a good five minutes, she sat up to grab a cigarette, because she sure did need one at the moment. By her drawer, a white scroll that she failed to notice earlier sat on top of her pack of cigarettes.

Curiously, she unrolled it and read its contents.

_Dearest Ran,_

_ It has occurred to me that lately, the person behind the arrests and murders of my most treasured assassins was Kuma. It seems as if he has hired ordinary people to do the job. I am telling you now to keep an eye on the civilians around you. You never know who'll pop out and get you…teehee…Keep safe._

_ Love,_

_ Your most beloved boss Usagi_

Crumpling the scroll in her hand, the usually calm and composed female felt a throbbing tick mark form on her forehead. She had a vicious glare on her face and the feeling of irritation built up in her chest. "That idiot could've told me this earlier…"

She pulled out her lighter and burned the crumpled scroll, standard procedure with all things sent from Usagi. She undressed from her yukata into a tank top and shorts, moving to lie down in her bed.

The lights were turned off and the room was quiet.

With a cigarette in her lips, she shut her eyes in fatigue, feeling the effects of tonight's events overtaking her.

But before she could fully emerge herself in the world of dreams, a high-pitched scream tore into the night, so loud it could be heard throughout the walls of Suna. "_NII-SAN!_"

And that was the last thing Ran heard before she succumbed to the darkness around her.

**Hi guys! So I really hoped you guys liked this chapter :) I feel like I've gotten better as a writer and this story kind of shows how I'm improving.**

**Unlike my other stories, this one is more serious and I'm sure the one of the only comic relief moments are ones that come from Naruto. **

**But yeah, please review and tell me what you think! This story might be up to maybe twenty or thirty chapters long? I don't know yet. But I have great plans for this one, like omg I'm so excited HAHAHA.**

**Anyways, this is now officially a GaaraxOCxSasuke. **

**Peace out.**


	4. Oshiro Tadayoshi

**HEY! DON'T BE MAD. TBH I KIND OF GREW OUT OF FANFICTION.**

**But when Naruto ended I got all sad and started to look at all my old work and was like reminiscing and shit LOL. I knew I had this chapter half-finished somewhere and when I opened it up, I felt like posting again.**

**I HOPE THERE'S STILL PEOPLE THAT WOULD READ THIS HAHA.**

**FORGIVE ME AND ILY.**

**Disclaimer: So I don't own Naruto. Screw my life.**

* * *

><p><strong>~[.4.]~<strong>

Luck. Good fortune. Bad fortune. Chance.

Why was it that these words held so much importance to people? So much meaning? It wasn't like it was real. Or so Ran thought.

Things that were beyond your control, that's what fortune is—things that just _happen_. So it makes no sense to force it. It doesn't make sense to cry over it, to hate over it, or to obsess over it. Because sometimes, things just happen. Shit happens.

And that's life. And life is a continuous race, one that does not stop for anybody.

And this was how Ran thought.

But sometimes, it paid off to have a little luck on your side. Because sometimes, luck is all you need. But she didn't believe in that. It was silly.

"…" Silence rang throughout a certain assassin's motel room. Complete and utter silence. The only thing that could be heard were the rustle of clothes as she packed them in her backpack and the crackle of papers as she tossed them in the trashcan.

Disposing of any incriminating evidence (which was highly unlikely, since Ran was one of the most efficient mechanics in the business), she straightened up and left the bed squeaky clean, leaving nothing for house cleaning to tidy up.

She debated whether she should take the underground tunnels or travel by caravan. Tunnels were faster but caravans were cheaper.

In every location possible, Usagi had his "_employees_" dig secret underground tunnels, which served as a sort of highway for his workers. They operated by using railroad tracks and a system of carts that would take people here and there, often people with criminal status and of those likes.

They were usually fast and would get you there in no time, but were somewhat expensive, since the people who worked the carts had to make a profit too. Either way, they were a good method for escaping quietly and inconspicuously, if you ever wanted to disappear. Only people affiliated with Yūrei knew of the underground tunnels' existence and of that exclusive few, only a small number knew the routes like the back of their hands.

Ran was part of those experienced members and often used the underground tunnels to her advantage. But she didn't like the idea of parting with her money.

Then again, if she decided to use the alternative, she'd have to go to the local rental place and scout a driver to take her to her destination, which usually included introductions and small talk and all that. The caravan ride itself was pretty cheap, but every time she rode it, she danced with the possibility of being found out.

And that was the one thing Ran didn't want, even _if_ it meant spending extra money on the underground tunnels. She was also fed up with all her little run-ins recently. She'd had enough of people for awhile.

Making her decision, the fair-skinned female exited the motel room with her hair in a low braid to the side and her eyes set on her next destination: the Suna Saloon. In every village, there would be only one entrance to the underground tunnels. As members of Yūrei, it wasn't exactly required to know the location in every village, but pretty much everyone memorized maps anyways just in case they were on the run or in trouble.

In Konoha, the underground tunnels were directly under the Memorial Stone and in Kumo, it was underneath the hot springs resort. Although, getting there is the easy part, learning how to open the entrance to the underground tunnels proved to be quite difficult for beginners.

For each village, there was a different way to open the entrance. For the one in Konoha, one had to touch a certain name on the Memorial Stone (which eventually proved to be a button), and a spiral of steps would unfold from under it.

For the one in Kumo, they would have to swim to the bottom of the hot springs and move a certain rock that would drain the water in an instant, thus revealing a staircase by the side of the wall. Ran knew all of them like the back of her hand.

It was all really simple in Ran's eyes.

Her job was simple. Kill, rid of the evidence, and move on.

But recently, the job had become very complicated after the whole Hiro/Aki ordeal. For some reason, she couldn't take her mind off it, almost as if she were…_regretting _it. "Feh!" At the thought of the word, she spat on the ground, causing some men that were walking by to look at her with disgust.

She hated the word regret almost as much as she hated snitches. She had no room for that emotion, especially with a job as an unusual and important as hers. She would just have to distract herself from the problem and eventually forget it. That was how she usually got over things.

"Ah!" As luck would have it, Ran had yet again encountered another run-in…with a certain bright-eyed hero. "…Sorry…" she muttered, trying not to look the person in the eyes as she scrambled to pick up the weapons that spilled from her bag.

_What the hell was that? Is Kami doing this on purpose? _She groaned inwardly, noticing that the person had bent down to help her collect her things. It didn't make things any better when she realized that he'd picked up her specialized electrocution kunai and began to examine them. "Um…that's mine," she mumbled, carefully taking the kunai from his hand and placing it back into her backpack.

"Cool stuff. Are you a ninja?" He'd asked her after she gathered her materials and composed herself. It occurred to her that he'd scanned her up and down for any sign of a headband. But of course he wouldn't find one. _Great_, she thought as she internally rolled her eyes, _He's going to try and talk to me._

"No I deliver these," she said with a smile, still avoiding eye contact with him. Acting as if she were extremely busy, she brushed past the confused blonde without a second look. "Bye."

Standing by himself in the middle of the street with a dumbfounded expression, Naruto scratched his head. "Hm…well that was weird."

The Kyuubi within him growled with curiosity. **How so?**

"Well she didn't even say thank you."

**~[.4.]~**

"Hmph," a low grunt sounded from a man sitting by himself, watching Ran as she fiercely kicked open the Saloon doors with a stoic expression and a silent mind. There were five other people in the place—the bartender, two old coots in the corner, a punk hung over by a chair, and a waitress.

"You got business here, little girl?" The old man by the door gave her a demeaning smirk, as if she was lost. "This ain't a place for your likes."

Without a single word, she dug a kunai into his table with such force that it caused cracks to form in its wooden frame. "Shut up old bag and mind your own damn business."

Unable to register her insult, he just stared wide-eyed at the kunai as she pulled it out and swiftly spun it back into her pocket. All eyes were on her as she approached the bartender with her yet-to-be-broken calm composure. The hungover punk stirred in his sleep. "I'm using the underground."

He gave her an understanding look before wiping his hands off and disappearing behind a door. "I'll prepare it for you." She nodded and served herself a drink, choosing to sit the farthest away from human contact.

The two old coots in the corner were snickering, pulling at the waitresses' skirt with perverted hands. "Come on now honey, don't be so cruel."

"I don't have time for your old balls," she snorted, placing drinks at their table and attempting to walk away. But one of the old men grabbed her by the wrist with no intention of letting go. "I said come on now. Don't act so high and mighty-,"

Before the situation could escalate any further, the man found his hand, the one on the waitress's wrist, with a long red slit, blood slowly oozing out from the wound. "What in the hell-?"

"Women, no matter who they are, are still ladies," Ran walked over to retrieve the senbon needle that was stuck to the wall beside the old men and the waitress. She gave the old men a scalding glare before throwing a towel at them and returning back to her seat. "So as gentleman, I expect you two dirtbags to treat her like a lady."

"It's ready," the bartender chose that moment to inform the young mechanic and watched as the waitress thanked Ran. She slipped the bartender a bill before closing the door to one of the rooms.

She entered a rather spacious area, filled with bookshelves, lamps, and antique materials. But she didn't come here to gawk. Placed in the middle of the large room was an equally large billiards table covered with green cloth. It held a triangle of colorful numbered balls, in a perfect pyramid formation.

She walked across the room to grab a cue stick, stretching out her back muscles before bending forward and positioning herself for the first hit. As she pushed the cue stick forward to strike the white ball, the other fifteen colored balls scattered in different directions.

Ran made sure to have the yellow number one ball roll to the left corner pocket and the orange number five ball roll into the opposite pocket. The green number six went to the middle left pocket and the blue number two would go to the opposite. The moment of truth was about to happen, the moment that would determine whether Ran would be stuck playing this game over and over again or be traveling the underground.

The upper left pocket should've held the blue number ten and the black eight ball…should've rolled into the upper right pocket. And so it did.

"Yes!" Ran allowed herself a hiss of achievement as the eight ball rolled into its rightful pocket. As soon as it did, the pool table retracted its four legs, reaching floor level and then splitting in half. As if connected to the floor, the wood also split in half, revealing a long staircase leading into complete darkness.

Behold—the entrance to the underground tunnels. A sight only few of this world were able to witness.

Ran descended down the staircase, watching as the entrance closed up by itself. She was completely engulfed in darkness but kept walking, void of fear. Soon, as she predicted, she came across a torch by the wall, taking it from its holder and continuing her descent.

Suna's underground entrance was one of the hardest to open and even Ran had difficulty with it. This was the first time she'd been able to open it with just one shot. Previously, she'd be in that room for an hour or two, yelling in frustration as the balls refused to cooperate. She thanked her lucky stars that she'd finally been able to master Suna's underground entrance.

It didn't take long to arrive. Five minutes later, she handed the torch to a guard who stood by the wall, most likely one who dealt with the used torches. She stood on a platform where several people walked by, all of them with apathetic expressions.

In front of the platforms were the railroad tracks. Every now and then, a cart that usually held two or three people would rattle on by, taking the people to their desired destination. It was pretty dark in the tunnels, the only light coming from the dancing flames held by the torches hung by the wall.

**(A/N: The image I'm pretty much going for is subway :D If you've ever been underground in a subway, that's basically what it looks like here)**

Ran moved to stand in a line by a sign that said _Land of Rivers_. The line was fairly short (about two people), since it wasn't a really popular place to go in itself, let alone have important people enough for her to kill. But she wasn't going there for a kill.

She was going to visit her family.

"Here." She spoke as she handed the man an expensive sum, though not nearly as expensive as it would've been had she chosen to travel to Iwa or god forbid, Kiri. Those were places millions of miles away (exaggerated) and would probably cost her the sum of two killings.

The Land of Rivers was just a little off ways Suna, on the way to Konoha. It wasn't much compared to the prices charged for travel to other villages.

She sat back in her seat and began to doze off, readying herself for the long journey.

**~[.4.]~**

Somewhere in the scorching atmosphere of Suna, a certain redheaded Kazekage was sitting in his chair, for once in his Kazekage life, not doing paperwork. Instead, he had been thinking of last night's events, more particular—the girl.

That silver-haired girl with the tiny smile and beautiful mind.

It wasn't like Gaara to think about females so excessively. I mean sure, when a pretty girl walked by he'd acknowledge it internally, but never gave it a second thought. But with her, it was like he couldn't think of anything BUT her.

Everything about her was so fascinating and so…simple. It was far from affection or anything near that sort, something like a mere fascination. She was very interesting and still, like always, he always felt like she needed help.

He wasn't sure why he felt that way, but he got that kind of vibe. Like she was trapped in something or that she couldn't escape from somewhere. What a mystery.

"Gaara," came a sing-songy voice that he'd come to hate. "I've got more paperwork for you~!" His brother, Kankuro had come barging in with a stack of dreaded papers, grinning as he set it down near the accumulating pile by the desk. "Hm," Kankuro straightened up, rubbing his chin. "Gaara it's unlike you to not have at least two piles done."

"…I've been thinking," Gaara started, trying to form a logical way to bring up the topic with his brother. Kankuro had always been one to try and force females onto Gaara's lap, trying to create a brotherly bond through girls but Gaara had ignored all of his attempts. If anything, Kankuro's incessant pushing and prodding encouraged Gaara to avoid girls even more.

But now, Gaara was curious and wanted to know more about the strange world of females. It was Gaara that would have to take the first step. "What do you think about love at first sight?"

Kankuro nearly choked on his spit. "W-What?!" He quickly leaned over Gaara's desk, fisting the Kazekage's shirt. That in itself could be considered a crime. "Gaara, who is it!? WHO'S THIS GIRL?"

The side of Gaara's mouth twitched in irritation, his black-rimmed eyes narrowed. "Kankuro get off of me. I was just asking for curiosity's sake."

"Who the hell is this Curiosity you're talking about?" The skilled puppet-master's eyes reflected the expression of insanity. Then, he leaned in real close, his voice nothing but a paranoid whisper. "Oh god…Gaara…don't tell me she's a stripper-,"

At that time, the redheaded shinobi slapped Kankuro's hands away, causing the purple-faced boy to fall backwards into a chair situated in front of the desk. Gaara glared, making sure that his voice radiated authority. "Kankuro. Just forget it."

Aforementioned brother calmed down a bit, seeming a little hesitant when he spoke. "W-Well, sorry man, I was just surprised and all…Love at first sight?" He regained a bit of his spark again as he spoke about what he knew best, other than puppets. "Well…" he rubbed his chin, pretending to give it some thought. "If you're asking me if I believe in it, in a way I do. I mean, you can't help what you feel right? If you love her when you see her, that's great! But that's pretty superficial if you ask me. Like, all you're seeing is her looks, y'know? I don't think that's enough evidence to base your love on. But I dunno, whatever floats your boat I guess."

Gaara inwardly scoffed. Kankuro usually babbled on about nonsense, but this time, it made sense. Or had it always made sense, but he never listened enough to know? Anyways, Gaara was thinking about what Kankuro had said. _All you're seeing are her looks?_ False.

If the girl he had met earlier landed the starring role in his little Love-At-First-Sight theory, then Kankuro was wrong. He didn't just see her beautiful silky hair or her cold dignified grey eyes, definitely not her tall yet petite frame, but instead, he looked past that. What he really saw was the way her eyes lit up while she watched the village at its happiest, how she had the tiniest smile when she watched children play in the street and how beautiful she was on the inside. The way she thought, the way she stood in perfect stillness amongst a crowd of bustling people, the way she seemed so…simple.

It was like anybody could fall in love with her if they just noticed those little miniscule things.

Well of course, this was just a theory. Nothing Gaara would ever really consider. "I see…" A lifetime of thinking ended up with him uttering two cryptic words. Glancing at the evergrowing pile of paperwork on his desk, he sighed and shooed Kankuro out. "I appreciate the opinion, but you should get going now. Work."

The young man whined. "And we were having such a good moment too!"

Although tired with his antics, Gaara let out an exasperated smirk of happiness. That was his brother—Suna's number-one flirt and avid skirt-chaser, experienced in complex matters such as love and the ever-mysterious species known as females.

**~[.4.]~**

Earlier than she'd expected, the cart came to a screeching stop. She groaned, instantly waking from her slumber with a grumpy expression. That was the thing with these carts, they were fast and efficient, the perfect package. But when it came to stopping, _damn _were they loud.

"Huh?" Ran looked at the sign above them that would usually indicate their current location. It read _Kaze/ Kawa Border. _She gave the mover (that's what they called the men who navigated the carts) a discontented look. "What's this? Why are we at the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers? I didn't ask for a stopover."

"I know," the largely-built man grunted with an impossibly deep voice, "But I've got a notice from Usagi. He wants to see you."

"Ughhhh…" She grumbled as she kicked open the cart door with a bang, her objective to show to the mover that she'd go, but she wouldn't go quietly. "Wait for me out here."

He said nothing but nodded in reply.

Ran cursed her easygoing boss as she ascended up a certain staircase that would somehow lead up into one of Usagi's many offices. She'd found a large metal door with a silver nameplate placed on the top, reading _Usagi_ in plain, capital letters.

She sighed, opening the door and entering yet another very ratty looking office. Books scattered everywhere, the light bulb dim and dusty, and papers casually thrown across the room as if they were dirt. Usagi was there, with a golf club in his hand as he gently used it to push a golf ball into a mug placed a few feet away from him. Ran watched as the ball completely veered off from where it was supposed to be.

"Usagi," Ran called, her voice void of emotion. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Dammit Ran," he threw his golf club aside as he walked around to sit on his desk. Crossing his legs, he gave her a reprimanding look. "I could've made that, you know."

"Sure," she said, closing the door and sitting in the chair in front of his desk. She raised an eyebrow. "So why am I here right now? You do know it's about time for my two-week break."

He smiled in that way that Ran disliked, his voice sweet as honey, "Oh I know. Buuuuut…I just couldn't help but to accept another offer." After hearing that, Ran gave him a discontented frown. "Again? I thought that job in Suna was the last one. You said-"

"Yes but this one's on the way anyways," Usagi interrupted, his wide all-knowing smile sending shivers down Ran's spine. His forest green hair was fastened into a thin elbow-length ponytail, with his bangs hanging just above his sinister violet eyes. He was evil, but good in some ways. He was the boss, the king, the _leader _of Yūrei. He was dangerous and he knew it. "Oh come on now. Your brother always did last-minute stuff like this for me."

All of a sudden, her teeth ground with a burst of infinite fury at the mention of her brother, her eyes narrowing into slits. The subject of her brother had been considered such a taboo that even fellow mechanics never dared to mention it for fear of her reaction. She was quite famed around Yūrei, and speaking of her brother was like a slap in the face to her. Of course, everybody knew not to bring it up.

But one person who always enjoyed crossing boundaries was Usagi, because he was the type to enjoy watching people squirm and feel uncomfortable. He was malicious like that.

But Ran had yet to break under his pressure. She glared, but it took all she had to keep herself from throttling him. She knew he was just pushing her buttons, like always, but this time, it got a little bit _too _personal. He'd mentioned her brother before, and gotten the same reaction, but that was a while ago. The words "your brother" still caused a pang of hurt to resound in her chest. "…Tch."

"Well anyways," Usagi continued, disappointed at how her reaction wasn't nearly as enjoyable as he'd expected it to be. Her control was improving. "I need you to do this for me."

Ran didn't like the idea of another job while she was on her way to her family's house, but she knew she couldn't refuse it either way. Nobody could, or _would _actually, refuse Usagi. The consequences of doing so have never been tested to be known. "Fine."

"As I said, he's located in the Land of Rivers, about fifteen miles from your family's house," Usagi mused, fiddling with a pen on his desk absentmindedly. "He lives in some gigantic mansion off into the rich neighborhood in town. It isn't hard to miss, I mean, it's _pink_ and all. He's been disrupting the system by ambushing a couple of my workers and taking their belongings. They tell me he's been trying to attract my attention, but I really have no use for some petty thief," he yawned, almost bored with his debriefing. "He's a fat guy, morbidly obese from the looks of it, and he has some heart condition, do what you want with that," he sighed, tossing a picture of some fat male into Ran's lap. He stood up and lazily peeked through the slits in the blinds, his eyes looking for something he would probably never find.

"As usual, his place is heavily guarded and all that," he turned around to send her a smirk as he sent a file folder flying her way, "But that would most likely cause no problem for you. Knowing you, it should be over quick and easy, like always."

Ran sighed and tucked the file folder under her arm as she stood up to walk out. "Alright, I'll do it. But this is the last one, really. I sincerely wish to relax with my family afterwards."

"Hm, okay," Usagi flapped his hand back and forth, as if she were a buzzing fly being shooed out the door. "Have fun on your month-long vacation."

Every bone in Ran's body froze as her mind registered what he had just said. With her lips barely moving, she whispered out a distraught, "W-What? A _month_?"

"Did I stutter?" Something in his voice told Ran that he was smiling that all-knowing smile again, almost as if a tone of threat had been used.

"No," she turned around and bowed, "Thank you, Usagi." He gave her one last smile before she closed the door and disappeared down the staircase. Once she was gone, he chuckled, turning back to sit in a raggedy burgundy chair behind his chipped wooden desk.

He folded his hands under his chin, keeping his half-lidded violet eyes trained on the spot where one of his best employees had just stood. He sat there, just to think for a moment, about what he had laid in the palm of his hand.

Ran was quick and agile, her work always coming out clean with no strings attached. She wasn't an emotionless drone, but was smart enough to know when to keep her emotions in check. And even then, there wasn't much of them left. Her clever methods of executing were entertaining and she wasn't suspicious in the least. In the five years she'd worked at his organization, not once had she slipped up or ever gave him reason to doubt her.

The other members did not fear her, but gave her their utmost respect, almost as if she were a wise old man who was far superior to their level. She had proved herself to be one of the best, if not _the _best, in the organization. She'd been able to work with Akatsuki on four occasions and all of them praised her aloofness and straightforward-like attitude. She gave Yūrei a great reputation just by being a great mechanic and if he ever lost her to Kuma, well, then that'd be a great tragedy in itself.

"Hmmm…" he chuckled darkly as he extracted a file folder from his drawer, the contents equating the same importance as that of a Hokage scroll. Flipping open the file folders, he was met with three different faces and three different profiles.

A man famed for being the youngest Kazekage, an S-rank criminal who had chosen to defect from the Leaf Village, and a certain blonde-haired, bright-eyed jinchuuriki who apparently held a lot of value on the market.

And as he stared at all the young faces, he almost cracked his face with a wide child-like smile, wondering which file he would hand over to Ran to finish off.

"Ahaaa…things are certainly getting interesting around here."

**~[.4.]~**

"_You're the cutest little kid in the world, you know that?" He knelt down, ruffling his younger sister's silvery lavender hair with careful gentleness. They had matching steel grey eyes, but his seemed warmer while hers were ice cold. "And no matter what happens, I'll always love you."_

_The short eleven-year old girl stared back at him with a blank expression, unable to express her feelings. "Keitaro-nii." So instead, she just decided to speak his name._

_The fourteen-year old boy laughed, his soft brown hair bobbing slightly as they hung a little bit over his eyes. He opened his warm grey pupils and offered a grin. "Come on, Suiren. Why don't we play?"_

_She couldn't describe the swelling in her chest when he asked her, but she nodded, her small mouth slightly agape as she stared up at him with large eyes. She'd never been good with expressing her feelings but it seemed like her brother could read her like a book, seeing as how he laughed again and took her hand to lead her into the front yard._

_He pulled out a sword and tossed it to her, his grin widening when she caught it with ease. "You're improving Suiren, you're almost good as me, I can see it."_

_She smiled, "You trained me well." And to prove it, she twisted her body and twirled, handling the heavy sword with grace as if she were engaged in a ballroom dance. The sword became like an extension of her arm, twisting and turning with her. With a gallant-like one-hundred eighty-degree spin, she swiped her leg forward and leaned in like she was engaging in battle, her chin inches from her knee. Her sword was positioned in front of her with her right hand, her left hand raised in defense to the side._

_Behind her, a seemingly solid log sustained various cuts, but held still._

"_Good," Keitaro clapped but gave her a small smile instead of a grin this time. "That's great but the log-,"_

_He was interrupted when the log slid into pieces and landed on the ground with a heavy thud, resembling pieces of chopped vegetables. "GREAT!" Keitaro grinned, making the lavender-haired female smile in return. "All right, I definitely think you're better than me now."_

_A moment of silent bliss passed between them._

"…_Can I ask you a question?" The girl inquired with a tone of hesitance, knowing that her brother disliked her raging curiosity. But seeing as he was so pleased with her performance, she decided to try her luck and search for answers._

_But her brother's face darkened visibly, his grin turning into a disapproving frown. "You know I told you not to ask questions, Suiren. You'll only end up getting answers you don't want to know."_

_She sighed, her cold grey eyes finding their focus onto the ground. He was a good brother, a great one to be in fact, but whenever she inquired about how he was able to teach her such advanced swordsmanship and how he knew so much about survival, he instantly frowned and evaded the question._

_It was like he was hiding something. The way he watched how he talked, how he cut off ties with all his friends in the village, and how he suddenly appeared with rolls of cash even when he had such a low-paying job was more than just suspicious. And sneaking out at night and returning after several days did nothing more than add to the evidence._

_Not only that but in the majority of his free time, he'd taught his little sister how to properly assess a situation, how to read people, and how to remain discreet. It was certainly something a fourteen-year old boy couldn't even hope to achieve._

_But yet he knew it. He knew everything there was to know and it frustrated his younger sister to no end._

_When they were little, they used to tell everything to each other. They were best friends._

"_But I want to know." She stated defiantly, standing her ground. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now. She was tired of the hiding and the lies and the secrecy. What a horrible life he was living. "Please."_

"…" _Her brother's eyes look pained and his reluctance to instantly refuse like always gave her hope that he would finally give her some piece of information that would ease her mind. Whatever he was hiding was probably something bad, something really bad. And the knot in her stomach gave room for her conscience to worry. "I'm…sorry. But I can't tell you anything."_

"…" _The eleven-year old felt her breath hitch, the sadness welling up inside of her. But that quickly disappeared as a new feeling replaced it. Fury. An explosion of pent-up emotions were thrown out at that moment, like a volcano bursting with lava for the first time. "Why?! Why don't you ever tell me anything anymore?! We're brother and sister, right? We're best friends, __**right**__? Why do you act like I'm a stranger now? Why do you think that you're so important, that you don't even come home for dinner sometimes? Tell me that, huh?"_

"_P-Please…" He shook his head, his heart wrenching at the sight of her being so angry at him. He loved his sister more than anything in the world. "Don't do this."_

"_NO! I'm tired of you hiding from me! It's not the same anymore," she felt hot, angry tears flowing down her cheeks, leaving trails of fury and desperation in their wake. She knew she wasn't in the right to yell at him for having secrets, but frankly at that moment, she had no qualms with it. She had no idea how much she would regret this later. "It's like….It's like you're not even my brother anymore-,"_

"_DON'T SAY THAT." Keitaro gritted his teeth, the words registering in his mind as the equivalent to a stab of the heart. He was torn. "Don't you ever fucking say that to me," he grabbed her by the shoulders, his warm grey eyes pleading with all its might, "I am your brother. I always will be. I don't want you to be angry with me over this." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath._

_The next time he opened them, they were hard like iron. "So stop sticking your nose in places where it doesn't belong."_

"…" _She glared at him with pupils like daggers, her eyes turning into angry slits. She didn't even think as the next three words rolled off her tongue like bittersweet candy. "I hate you."_

_The boy let out a small gasp, the shock of the words causing his eyes to widen and his heartbeat to stop momentarily. It was like his world had shattered right before him._

"_W-What-,"_

"_Keitaro-nii?" A small high-pitched voice sounded from the doorway and both figures snapped their head towards the source. It was a boy of three years of age, with silvery-lavender hair like his sister and warm grey eyes like his brother. "Suiren-nee?" Beside him, a girl with an identical face stood, her silky brown hair falling just below her shoulders and her icy grey eyes watching on with panic._

"_It's…nothing," Keitaro let go of his younger sister's shoulders, turning his back on her to lead the two children inside. "Stay here."_

"_Are you two having a fight?" The girl questioned, her eyes reading his emotions carefully._

"_It's nothing Kasumi." Keitaro repeated, sitting her on his bed while faking a smile. "You and Kenchi should continue your nap now. It's already six."_

_The boy nodded obediently, crawling into bed and sinking under the covers. He beckoned his twin sister to join him, but she instead stayed planted in front of Keitaro, her expression completely blank. She stared at him for the longest time, their eyes boring holes into each other._

"_It's nothing," the fourteen-year old said again, trying in vain to reassure the young girl that it was most certainly nothing to be worried about._

_Without another word, she stared at him for another moment before joining her twin brother in the bed, closing her eyes and waving for Keitaro to go away. He gave a small sigh, closing the door to the bedroom and returning to the front yard to deal with another situation._

_His other sister was standing there, glaring at the ground until she heard him appear at the doorway, in which case she kept her glare focused on him. He frowned, moving to place a hand on her shoulder, but he flinched when she slapped his hand away with ferocity._

"_I-," He was cut off when a kunai landed in the grass, a scroll attached to it. He instantly grabbed his sister by the wrist and sprinted towards the door, shoving her inside. "You stay in there."_

_She didn't seem surprised or panicked like he did, but instead, her glare intensified, burning holes into his face. He gave her one desperate last look before running to pick up the kunai and reading the scroll._

_Cursing, he took off down the street, disappearing from the silvery-haired girl's line of vision. She stared at the spot where he once stood, glaring at it with all her might. Turning, she headed off to her room where she practiced her kung-fu with a training dummy, pretending it was her frustrating and secretive brother._

_That night, a notice had been sent to Keitaro's parents, telling them that it was possible that he was located in a burning house near the village market. The family hurried over to the house only to be greeted with the sight of a completely crumbled structure being engulfed in scorching flames._

_The flames licked at the young girl's face, drying her tears up in mere seconds. She kicked and screamed into the night, her mind and body going into hysterics. There were so many things she had yet to say, so many apologies and thank yous and explanations._

_**So many regrets.**_

_If only she had known that the words she'd uttered in enraged spite would be the last ones he would ever hear from her._

**~[.4.]~**

"Sasuke, how much longer-,"

"Quiet," a deep, velvety voice snapped, its owner a tall, dark-haired handsome man. His eyes were the color of an abysmal onyx, void of any emotion other than annoyance and indifference. With smooth pale skin and a toned, muscular frame, he was a sight that would send any lady falling head over heels.

His harsh tone was directed at a man with sharp violet eyes and jaded snow white hair. The man 'tsk'-ed, momentarily showcasing his razor-sharp teeth. "Whatever…"

"I've already told you, Suigetsu," Sasuke twitched his eye in irritation, throwing a glare at the sharp-toothed male at having to repeat his explanation multiple times. "Our priorities have now been shifted to us obtaining money in order to urge the one called Usagi into giving us passage to the rumored underground tunnels. With that, we will be able to travel freely underground and uproot Konoha from its core."

"I don't get why we can't just cut the guy's fingers off one by one until he lets us." Suigetsu licked his lips at the prospect, his eyes glittering with bloodlust.

An orange-haired man standing beside him smacked him on the head, causing the white-haired male to tumble forwards. "Are you an idiot?" Red-orange eyes glared at Suigetsu. "Usagi is just as dangerous as any of us out here. Fighting him would be too troublesome."

"Yes," Sasuke nodded as he sharpened his sword, his eyes trained on the silver blade. "Juugo is right. I don't want to waste my time and resources fighting a man who has hundreds of deadly trained assassins and criminals at his disposal. It is definitely troublesome."

"Is he really that bad?" This time, a woman with black spectacles and spiky red hair spoke, her eyes holding uncertainty. "I mean, he can't be _that _terrifying, can he?"

Juugo glanced at her, speaking lowly. "I have worked under him for a year and can easily say that his power is beyond frightening. Asking to leave his organization could've almost killed me. I was lucky that one of his most precious workers stuck up for me and let me go."

"If you've already worked there I don't see why you can't show us the tunnels yourself," snorted Suigetsu, his violet eyes half-lidded in boredom.

Juugo growled, crossing his arms. "I told you that once you've worked for him that it's impossible to let information slip. What I am telling you right now might be enough to kill me so I don't want to risk anymore."

"…" Sasuke stopped sharpening his blade as he glanced at Juugo with cold, dominating eyes. "You are sure that after we've obtained enough money, we are able to gain entrance to the underground tunnels?"

Juugo nodded in confirmation, his expression stern. "Yes. If it's one thing I've learned about Usagi, it's that he's one of the greediest bastards I've ever known. It might not be easy, but I'm sure he'll allow it."

Sasuke stared at the ground, thoughts swirling in his head. "Okay. Then so be it."

**~[.4.]~**

"I don't suppose you'll want to wait for me after this," she sighed, giving the apathetic mover a rare pleading look. His face remained hard as his hand shot out, a signal for more payment. She shook her head but complied as she handed him an extra twenty ryo. "Figures."

"Hmph," he grunted out as he pulled the lever that kept the cart parked. "I will give you half an hour."

She scoffed, climbing out and casually walking towards the staircase that led to higher ground. "It'll be much faster than that."

Ran climbed the steps that led to a door. She opened it to reveal a completely disgusting mens' bathroom, complete with scurrying sewer rats and walls enveloped in dirty black mold. She scrunched her nose up as she kicked the main door open, afraid to touch anything for fear of contracting a disease.

"Ugh," she groaned in disgust as she stepped on a used tissue, furiously praying that the brown stain smudged across it was cake. On the road to puking, she quickly left the restroom and breathed the fresher air offered outside.

She was past the Land of Wind, but moving in towards the Land of Rivers. She'd arrived at one of the smaller, less important villages that could do nothing but stand in its invisibility on a map chock full of powerhouse nations such as Konoha and Suna.

It was completely unnoticed.

Ran walked down the street until she found the house she was looking for. With a sweatdrop, she stood there with her arms crossed, just to ridicule it. "Usagi wasn't kidding about the pink…"

In front of her stood an absolutely ostentatious hot pink mansion with tall, regal black gates and boulder-like bushes to match. His place was completely surrounded and most likely had cameras in every corner. She spotted another eye-catching accessory to his mansion—a gold nameplate that was hung right above his door, bearing the name _Oshiro Tadayoshi_.

The appearance of his estate made Ran almost want to laugh out loud. _Is he really a criminal? What kind of crook flashes his wealth like __**this**__? _She sighed, slipping on her gloves and walking the block again. _More so, the idiot literally put his name on his front door for the whole world to see. It's a wonder that he hasn't gotten whacked yet._

As she passed by the second time, she pinpointed the cameras' blind spots and waited for the right moment until she was out of their view to scale the bushes and swiftly flip onto his front yard.

She crouched, hiding behind yet another bush with her steely grey eyes concentrated on the bright mansion. It was the afternoon now, so shadows were very easily detected and that was what Ran was looking for.

She waited another ten minutes before deducing that only one person was home. She could hear the loud noises of food being eaten from the bedroom in the right, rolling her eyes as she really wondered if this guy was the real deal.

He was quite noisy for someone who could be a potential target.

She figured he was just stupid as she maneuvered herself soundlessly over the balconies and the walls, quietly slipping into the room. Ran was hunched down near the bed, watching in disgust as he shoveled a large bun into his mouth.

After calculating the pros and cons, she concluded that there were two ways she could finish this. Raising an eyebrow at her inner debate, she figured that she'd rather go with the more interesting death, thinking she deserved some form of entertainment for the day.

She shot a kunai flying in his direction, making sure it swerved his head and came back to her hand. It was one of her special "return" kunais that worked just like a boomerang. It was pretty handy when she wanted five heads at once.

Well anyways, her job was pretty much finished as he screamed (much like she figured) and began to run around the house frantically, and very slowly in fact. And of course, it gave Ran the satisfaction of silently guffawing at the way he ran in slow motion and how his fat rolls jiggled like jello.

She sent another return kunai flying, causing him to run the fastest a fat man like him could. As expected, he dropped dead a minute later, having literally run out his heart. In a few hours, someone would come home and call the medics and they'd pronounce him dead of a heart attack.

It was all really simple, actually.

She scoffed, looking down at the obese man mercilessly, almost ridiculing him for his excessive eating disorder. Rolling her eyes, she walked back to his room and picked up a shark-tooth necklace that looked strangely familiar when she had entered.

Usagi had said that he'd ambushed other Yūrei members and stolen their belongings. She doubted that _he _would ever get ambushed, but she knew that shark-toothed necklace anywhere. It was definitely his.

Whistling, she casually snuck back outside of his mansion and gracefully flipped over his hedge, inconspicuously walking away as if she had never arrived. The lavender-haired vixen made her way back into the repulsive bathroom and down towards the underground tunnels where her mover was waiting ever-so-patiently.

She jumped back in the cart and grinned when he handed her a fat roll of cash tied with a flimsy white string. "Well thank you."

"Hn."

And with that, he started off the rather short ride to Ran's hometown.

**~[.4.]~**

It was the afternoon when Ran had exited the underground tunnels and walked for ten minutes into her hometown. It was a small village, more on the lower-class side but still faring well all by itself.

The afternoon sun beat down on her forehead, causing miniscule beads of sweat to roll down her cheeks, reminding her of the extreme heat in Suna. And when she thought of Suna, she remembered…

"No!" She shouted to herself, causing bystanders to stare in curiosity as they picked up their walking pace. Ran internally reprimanded herself for being unprofessional and harboring unnecessary emotions towards the target in a job. Granted, she was on vacation and didn't really have the obligation to be "professional" at the moment, but a smart mechanic would be most of the times.

"Konnichiwa," she greeted an elderly woman at a bakery shop near the heart of the village. The woman smiled and pulled out five loaves of bread, wrapping them up and handing them to her. "It's good to see you again, Suiren."

The silver-haired assassin visibly flinched at the name but nodded and gave money to her. "You too, Chiyako-san."

"Take care of your family now," the woman waved, a crinkly smile adorning her elderly face. Ran sighed, waving and walking away with a head full of thoughts. She hoped that she didn't run into any other old acquaintances during her stay. That would be…uncomfortable.

In about a half an hour, she'd managed to walk through town, a couple of neighborhoods, to stand in front of a house she'd been born in. It was wooden and ancestral, considering her grandmother's father had owned the house originally. They didn't make houses like these anymore.

It was located in the more rural part of the country, thus the vast scenery and rolling hills of green. A large oak tree towered over a tub of water where unfinished laundry lay. Clothes hung on clothespins were dangling off to the side, small shirts and pants waving with the wind. A wide porch was stretched across the front of the house, atop it sat an old rocking chair which Ran's grandmother sang nightly lullabies on.

The faint scent of her mother's specially made soap drifted through the clear air, the smell of nostalgia filling Ran's nose. She stared at the house with half-lidded eyes, the memories playing in her mind like a faded movie.

But the sound of the screen door banging open brought her back to her senses. A boy about nine years of age walked out, a large wicket basket in hand. His expression was exasperated, as if he'd rather not be doing what he was about to do.

She watched him walk further to the side, where some tomatoes were growing. Bending down, he began to pick them and place them into the basket with tired experience. When he was done, he stood up and began to walk to the front of the house, but was stopped by an unfamiliar sight.

The image of a certain silvery-haired girl standing in front of him caused his fingers to loosen their grip on the basket, thus leading the tomatoes to tumble towards the ground.

"What a waste, Kenchi," Ran sighed, walking over and bending down to pick them up. She spoke with a certain calmness, as if it hadn't just been a couple months since she'd seen him. Despite her seemingly chill composure, her hands were shaking. He wasted no time and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a tight embrace.

"Nee-chan."

She smiled and ruffled his matching silvery lavender hair. "I'm home."

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, not much happening in this chapter. Sorry LOL. Honestly still outlining the rest of this story, not really sure where it's going. Just like my life.<strong>

**Sigh.**

**LOLJK Thanks for reading. I dunno when the next chapter will be out, but I hope soon! HAHA.**


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